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THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE 
IN AMEEICA 



tONDOK 

PRINTED BT SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 

NEW-STEEBT SQCAEE 



THE 



SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE 
IN AMERICA 



E. M. ^HUDSON 

JCBIS UTBIUSQTIE DOCTOB, FELLOW OF THE GEOGBAPHICAL SOCIETY OF BEBLIN, 

LATB ACTING SECBEIABT OF LEGATION TO THE AMEBICAN 

MISSION TO THE COITET OF PBUSSIA. 



TRANSLATED BY THE AUTHOR 
FROM THE SECOND REVISED AND ENLARGED GERMAN EDITION 



WITH AN INTEODUCTION BY BOLLING A. POPE 



LONDON 
LONGMAN, GEEEN, LONGMAN, EOBEETS, & GEEEN 

1863 



^4^^ 
y.'^^ 



PREFACE 



THE SECOXD GEEMAN EDITION. 



The motive for the publication of ' The Second War 
of Independence in America,' which appeared in 
January last, was the earnest desire, by means of a 
short and conscientious exposition of the American 
question, to correct, as far as possible, the erroneous 
notions which had been propagated in Germany with 
regard to this unholy conflict. The attention with 
which every event in the course of this war is fol- 
lowed, proves how intimately the sympathies and 
interests of Europe are concerned in it. 

Since the appearance of the first edition some 
changes have taken place in the condition of things. 
Wherever these have been of any importance, I have 
communicated them in notes or additions, and ha-^'e 
called attention to their significance. In general, it 



VI PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. 

may be remarked that the conduct of the war on the 
part of the Confederates has been changed. Without 
seeking now, as formerly, to check the enemy on the 
frontiers of the Southern territory, it appears to be 
the intention of the Southern Government to draw 
him into the heart of the South ; for there the South 
will be able to oppose him, deprived of the protec- 
tion of his navy, with equal arms and with greater 
prospect of success. 

The lack of authentic information at that time was 
a sufficient ground for the publication of this volume. 
In consequence of the total suspension of postal 
communication between the South and Europe, no 
accounts of transpiring events were able to reach us ; 
and thus the people of Europe were able to base their 
judgement only upon statements both one-sided and 
coloured to suit party-purpose. The present condi- 
tion of the press in the Northern States, however, is 
a still greater inducement for a caution against the 
credibility of all news emanating from that source. 
From the beginning, the South has suiFered severely 
from the difficulty of postal communication with 
Europe, as the North has by this means been enabled 
to deceive the nations of Europe. At the present 
moment, the state of affairs is far more a2:o:ravated. 
The Northern Government have issued a proclamation, 



PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. Vll 

prohibiting the publication of a word with reference 
to the events of the war, without special permission. 
And when it is borne in mind that the Federal 
Government are pledged to crush the rebellion by 
May 1, in order to avert European intervention, it 
will appear evident that no news favourable to the 
South can be expected from the North. We shall, 
however, now be able to estimate the value to be 
attached to Northern accounts. 

On many sides regret has been expressed through 
the press that no special examination had been made 
of the question of Slavery in the former edition. I 
have, therefore, determined to add, as a supplement, 
a particular chapter on the condition of the slaves in 
America. This chapter is limited, however, to the 
actual condition of the African slaves, with brief 
reference to the question of emancipation. The moral 
side of Slavery I have left undiscussed. 

No one who examines well all the circumstances 
can, in the face of these brief intimations, fail to be 
convinced that the North, in inscribing emancipation 
of the slaves upon its banner as the cause of the war 
against the South, has acted with an entire disre- 
gard of truth ; and this, in order to win the approval 
of the European States for its war of conquest, and 
to frustrate the recognition of the Southern States 



Vlll PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. 

as an independent power, or at least to delay it as 
long as possible, for the sake of self-preservation. 
An impartial examination of the action of the North 
towards its own emancipated slaves, which have not 
been made equals of the whites, and the endeavour, 
which it has never attempted to conceal, to disembarrass 
itself of the emancipated negroes, favoured with only- 
inferior rights, by sending them beyond its borders, 
will prove to the conviction of any one that it is out 
of no considerations of humanity that the North is 
induced to raise such a 'hue and cry' about Slavery 
in the South. On the other hand, it will be e\ddent 
to those whose attention is directed to the pecu- 
liarities of the country and the character of the 
negro, that an emancipation of the slaves, in their 
own interest as well as in that of the country, could 
not, with any degree of reason, be eiFected by a 
sudden and hasty act ; but that in all cases, sup- 
posing emancipation to be desirable, well-matured 
plans of transition would be necessary to elevate the 
negro-race, so far below the whites in the scale of 
developement, to a condition for enjoying liberty, 
without certain destruction to itself and to the 
country. The Abolitionists would, without any 
sacrifice on their part, consecrate the country and 
its inhabitants to destruction for the sake of an idea, 



PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. IX 

and would apply to a condition, which they cha- 
racterise as a malady, a radical cure which they 
refused to apply to their own body, as long as it 
was suffering from a similar one. 

The want of accurate and true representations of 
the causes and objects of the war, because all ac- 
counts emanated from the North, has influenced the 
press of Germany warmly to espouse the cause of 
the Federal Government. It is, nevertheless, un- 
deniable that the press has recently been more 
enlightened; but still prejudices, once awakened, 
have remained, as it was the impression in Europe 
that the abolition of Slavery was the great huma- 
nitarian object of the war in America. In con- 
firmation of my ovra views upon the American 
question, I refer to the letter of Captain M. F. 
Maury to Admiral Fitzroy. The writer, who is 
well known throughout Europe for his extensive 
scientific attainments, gives a clear statement of the 
origin of the difficulty, criticises the measures of 
Lincoln, and exposes the resources of the South 
and the reasons for its eventual success. 

With a quiet conscience, therefore, may I leave 
the final decision about this war to the intelligent 
public, who know very well that the faults of State 
Government cannot be corrected by brilliant theories. 



X PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. 

I may now lay aside my pen with the consciousness, 
equally free from over-estimation and self-praise, that 
I have fearlessly followed the voice of truth in con- 
tributing my mite, as in duty bound, to the welfare 
of my native land. 

BERLm: March 28,1862. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Preface to the Second German Edition . . v 

Introduction ...... xiii 



CHAPTER I. 

Political Relations of the States of the Union to 

each other ..... 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Causes of the Dissolution op the Union. 

I. Social causes . . . , .39 

II. Economic causes . . . . .45 

HI. Political causes . . . . .52 



CHAPTER HI. 
The War. 

I. Unconstitutionality of the war . . .66 

II. Commencement of the war . . . .69 

III. Character of the war — on the part of the North, a 

means for the acquisition of greater power ; on the 
part of the South, for securing its independence 
and liberty . . . . .87 

IV. Contradictions in the representations made respect- 

ing the motives for wajring the war . . 94 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Capacity of both Parties for carrying on this War. 



I. Resources in men .... 


. 100 


II. The navy ..... 


. 109 


III. Material resources .... 


. 113 


IV. Army-organization .... 


. 125 


V. Duration of the war .... 


. 130 


CHAPTER V. 





Issue of the War 



133 



CHAPTER VI. 



African Slavery. 

I. General observations 
II. Status of the slaves . 
III. Manumission and emancipation 



136 
153 
162 



INTRODUCTION. 



The interest evinced by the British public for every- 
thing pertaining to the war in America, and the 
success which the ' Second War of Independence in 
America ' has obtained in scientific and political 
circles in Germany, have induced Mr. Hudson to 
reproduce it in England. The second German 
edition has been made the basis of the English, some 
points being treated more in detail, while others, 
perhaps too elementary for this stage of the American 
war, have been omitted. 

The constitutional right of secession is developed 
at length, and no point of discussion has been 
omitted; while the author has given special pro- 
minence to the historical foundation of the rigHt. 

The causes which led to the exercise of this right 
will be found all duly arrayed, and prominent among 
them the original antipathy and antagonism of the 
Northern and Southern colonists, and the influences 
which have tended to keep these alive and active. 
Indeed, when we seek to determine the true character 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

of these two nations by the experience of the present 
war, we are astonished that they could have lived so 
long under the same government. This difference 
was one of the principal reasons for the ardent attach- 
ment of the Southern people to the doctrine of 
' State Rights.' All the elements of distinct national 
life being present, the South, plastic from the heat of 
political passion and war, has been moulded by her 
leaders into a nation as complete in all that is es- 
sential to the name, as though she were as old as the 
' Celestial Empire.' 

The subject of Slavery is briefly but fully treated. 
Here the author has avoided no question but that of 
the abstract right or wrong involved, deeming, very 
properly, this to be a point the discussion of which 
not being practical would be barren of results. He 
takes a great fact, and treats it in its practical bear- 
ings, leaving to time the solution of those problems 
which can never be determined by theoretical dis- 
cussions, by fanatical abuse and interference, or 
by treaties which could never have any practical 
effect if made. This portion of the work embraces 
an historical sketch of African Slavery in th6 United 
States, and an exposition of the legal condition of the 
negro (free and slave) in America, thereby utterly 
confounding those calumniators of the South who 
have proclaimed the slave to be in the Southern code 
only a.' chattel.' Unfortunately, the European public 



IXTRODUCTION. XV 

seem to have been led, certainly not bytlie autho- 
rized organs of the Confederate States, to believe that 
the South was prepared to allow the condition of her 
negro population to be determined by the European 
powers. Nothing could be further from her inten- 
tions, since the question does not fall within the 
jurisdiction of the powers delegated to the Confe- 
derate Government. Moreover, it would be an 
endorsement of all the calumnies of her enemies, the 
admission that Europe knows her internal condition 
and interests better than herself, and is actuated by 
higher motives of humanity ; and finally, it would be 
a relinquishment of the dearest right of sovereignty, 
impossible to a proud and sensitive people. 

The unparalleled growth of the United States in 
wealth, population, and power has been viewed with 
varied feelings by the different countries and classes 
of Europe. According to the peculiar interests or 
policy of the governments and people, or the political 
theories w^hicli happened to prevail with a given 
class, have opinions been formed. Upon the whole, 
the Union carried with it the moral weight of suc- 
cess, except "with a few far-seeing thinkers. This 
mighty empire fell hopelessly at a time, when even 
men hostile to its political ideas w'ere upon the point 
of acknowledging its success. The great majority 
in the South had long seen the approach of the cata- 
strophe, and were divided only as to the best time and 

a 



Xvi INTRODUCTION. 

means for securing themselves from a government 
that was fast becoming a tyranny of the most oppres- 
sive character. At the time of the secession of the 
Southern States, there was a party, largely in the 
minority, which thought that the appropriate time 
for separation had not arrived, and that in case of 
war the South, being unprepared, would be at a great 
disadvantage. In this party was to be found what 
of sentiment for the common history still existed, 
together with those interests which in case of a war 
are always the first to suffer. The right of secession 
was doubted by no party in the South ; it was with 
all purely a question of time and expediency. The 
secession of the South took the Xbrth by surprise, 
which, not at first appreciating that it was more than 
the impulse of sudden passion, affected to consider it 
as something exceedingly farcical, of which the South 
would soon become most heartily ashamed. How much 
of this was affected, and how much was the result of 
ignorance or policy, it is impossible to determine. 
Yet as the idea gained ground that the movement 
had a real meaning and a purpose, the Abolitionists 
who had expressed tlieir joy to be rid of the South, 
the more moderate Republicans who had disavowed 
any desire to preserve the Union by force, and the 
Democrats, who had till then been friendly to the 
South, seeing that great political and material inte- 
rests were at stake, united to form tliat mass of 



INTRODUCTION. XVll 

fanaticism, hate, hypocrisy, and vandalism which has 
disgraced the nineteenth century. When the news 
of the dissolution of the Union reached Europe, there 
was, in England at least, a feeling of relief; for every 
trace of conservatism had disappeared from the 
Government ; while the foreign policy had come to be 
determined by the foreign population and the party 
of ' Manifest Destiny ' at the hustings. Under the 
influence of the lawless and socialistic elements from 
Europe, and the extreme democratic ideas prevalent 
in the North, the right of suffrage had lost its dignity, 
and political power had passed into the hands of 
those least capable of using it well. There was one 
party in Europe that saw the dissolution with deep 
and unconcealed disappointment. With the fall of 
the Union were lost to the party of revolution its 
hopes of powerful aid from that quarter, for re- 
moving the remaining restrictions upon their theory 
of universal equality. They had always hated the 
South, but now their hatred knew no bounds ; and, 
with the Republican party of the North, they de- 
manded a war of extermination. A misconception 
as to the true character of the Union produced at 
first coolness on the part of the Conservatives, the 
natural allies of the South, which has happily passed 
away with the error that caused it. The whole of 
Europe, misled by the malignant misrepresentations 
of the Abolitionists of Europe and America, saw little 



XVlll INTRODUCTION. 

occasion for sympathy in the picture of a nation com- 
posed of a few cruel and voluptuous slaveholders, a 
large mass of ' white trash,' and millions of Africans 
smarting from the lash and groaning under the bur- 
dens of their taskmasters. Those interested in those 
branches of commerce and manufactures which were 
affected by the hostilities, naturally looked upon the 
South as a disturber of the public peace, asking few 
questions about the right or wrong of her actions. 
If, at the commencement of the war, the South had 
a friend in Euroj)e, there was no evidence of the fact. 
Some may have wished her success for political 
reasons, but there was no sentiment of sympathy for 
her cause, and but little hope that she would succeed 
in the unequal contest, while her enemies were 
confident of her speedy subjugation. 

But what are the results of a war of nearly two 
years ? Considering the populations engaged, and 
the attending circumstances, they characterise it as 
a war almost unparalleled in histor}^ All the pre- 
dictions of the enemies of the South have been 
falsified ; while her bold and defiant confidence, 
thought to be the result of ignorance, has been more 
than justified by the almost romantic success of her 
arms. We have seen a government spring into 
existence, exercising with dignity and consummate 
skill almost unlimited powers, without impairing the 
liberty of the individual. We have seen a people in 



INTRODUCTION. XIX 

the want of all the appliances of war, and supposed 
to be enervated by indolence and vice, accomplish 
all that could have been expected from a nation with 
a highly developed industrial and military organi- 
zation. We have seen an army badly armed and 
equipped supply itself from its rich, numerous, and 
boasting enemy. We have seen a nation act as an 
unit, and find its strength where friends and foes had 
sought its weakness. In fine, every evidence of 
unity, vitality, courage, perseverance, and success 
has been presented to the world; and, upon the 
whole, the South has gained moral as well as physi- 
cal victories, and has won the sympathy of all who 
admire heroic spirit, and abhor treachery, corruption, 
imbecility, and cruelty. In the meantime, she has 
invited the most searching scrutiny of her internal 
condition and institutions, knowing, as she does, that 
ignorance of -these has been the greatest obstacle in 
her way. It is highly probable that, had the govern- 
ments of Europe had a clear view of the true state 
of America at the commencement of the struggle, 
their policy would have been somewhat different. 

Apart from the causes which led to the dissolution, 
it was best for the world and for America itself that 
disunion should have taken place; for the idea of 
future irresistible power, and the absence of all 
conservative restraints, would soon have rendered 
peace impossible ; and had the warlike enthusiasm of 



XX INTRODUCTION. 

the combined nation once engaged it in war with a 
foreign power, it would have been the bloodiest of 
history. For America it was best, since the political 
system was fast demoralizing the people ; and the 
only hope was in the formation of two governments, 
by which a balance of power might be created on 
that continent, and with it more conservative 
political tendencies. Besides, the territory of the 
Union was too large to be longer well-governed; 
and this of itself would have made dissolution in- 
evitable. War has its evils ; but, upon the whole, a 
long peace has evils perhaps equally great, which can 
only be remedied by war. In addition to the ill 
effects of a too-long peace, America had peculiar 
necessity for internal war, in order that the political 
and material forces of the continent should be mea- 
sured, both for the benefit of herself and of Europe, 
as upon this point the ignorance seemed to be almost 
universal. Viewed in this light, it appears, then, that 
disunion was inevitable and desirable; and that war 
was necessary as a solid foundation for a long peace, 
undisturbed by those quarrels which take place 
between neighbours unacquainted with the horrors 
of a war brought home to themselves, and ignorant 
of their mutual strength. Great Britain, for obvious 
reasons, felt the deepest interest in what transpired 
in America. It was the fall of lier great future rival, 
the peculiarities of whose diplomacy she had learned 



INTRODUCTION. XXI 

to appreciate, and whose cotton-fields would have 
been so potent for evil in the event. of war. She 
saw that America, under the political guidance of the 
North, would inaugurate that system under which 
her own industrial grandeur had been built up, and 
which she has so recently learned to be a ruinous 
error. Trembling for her commercial sceptre, her 
relief must have been more profound than has ever 
been acknowledged. The question of the blockade 
came up and lessened somewhat this sense of satis- 
faction, in itself perfectly justifiable. But Manchester 
had studied political economy, which teaches that 
' supply is regulated by demand.' And there were 
India, and Egypt, and Turkey, and Brazil, and 
Australia, and the West Indies, and Central America, 
and Mexico, and Africa, all ready to take part in 
this great plan for emancipating British industry 
from the American ' monopoly.' Besides, a blockade 
of the Southern ports, it was seen, would relieve the 
market of the excess of cotton cloths, and though a 
slight violation of Manchester philosophy, if not con- 
tinued too long, might act beneficially as a stimulant 
for opening new cotton-fields. It has long been the 
dream of England to become totally independent of 
foreign countries for the supply of raw material for 
her manufactures, and it had always been especially 
galling to see herself dependent on the United States 
for her chief supply of cotton. This feeling had 



XXU INTRODUCTION. 

extended to the system of labour itself wliich pro- 
duced it, and explains, much more than the English 
themselves are perhaps aware, their special hatred to 
negro slavery in the South. The South had also 
imprudently expressed the hope that the necessity 
for cotton would force England to prevent the 
blockade of her ports; and it was easy to see, by 
consulting the expressions of the various organs of 
public opinion at the time, that the English people 
felt it to be almost a national insult to suppose that 
they would be influenced in their political course by 
interest. It is difficult to conceive that England has 
been influenced as much by the threats of the 
Government at Washino-ton as the w^orld has been 
led to believe. 

The idea that England, hating the institutions of 
each section, calmly awaits the ruin of both, is in- 
consistent with her character for humanity, and a 
clear view of her own interests. Though a rival, 
they have furnished her with the best market in 
which to buy and sell, and it is impossible to see 
how their ruin could result in her benefit. 

The opinion of those who maintain that action of 
any kind whatever on the part of Europe, with 
regard to America, would only tend to lengthen the 
war and increase its bitterness, are not justified by 
experience or history, and are contrary to public 
opinion in America. 



INTRODUCTION. XXIU 

The commercial interests have been quieted by 
the repeated intimation of the danger of a war, a 
danger existing only in the imagination of the timid, 
or of those totally unacquainted with the Yankee 
character. Those eno;ao;ed in manufactures have been 
told that no action short of war would relieve their 
sufferings, while their fears about the destruction of 
their interests were quieted by the hope that the 
misfortune would be of short duration. 

The Kadicals did not desire the termination of the 
war, their motto being sympathy and alliance with 
the North. 

The war in America means not only the loss of 
that great political power so necessary to the North 
for her commercial and industrial schemes, but it 
means the loss of the very foundation of her naval 
and industrial greatness. The loss of the West will 
soon follow that of the South, already accomplished. 
It is useless for England to seek to make a friend of 
this people without a nationality; it is impossible. 
Their interests are diametrically opposed to hers, and 
of this the Morrill Tariff is a sufficient confirmation. 
Politically, she will gravitate anywhere else than 
towards Enerland. 

o 

Observed from the point of their geographical 
relations, climate, productions, stage of industrial 
developement, origin, character, and political interests, 
one cannot fail to be struck with the community of 



XXIV INTRODUCTION. 

interests between Great Britain and the Confederate 
States. The one a great manufacturer and importer 
of raw materials, the other a great producer of raw 
materials and importer of manufactured articles ; the 
one possessing a great commercial navy, the other 
producing in quantities, whose increase is hardly to 
be limited, all those products most adapted to the 
support of a large commercial navy; the one rich 
and mature, the other young, but full of ardour and 
enterprise, descended from England, speaking her 
language, possessing the same laws, and, for the most 
part, holding the same political ideas. The import- 
ance of the countries on the Mississippi and around 
the Gulf of Mexico to England, needs no explana- 
tion ; but, to make them fully available for her pur- 
poses, it is absolutely necessary that a powerful and 
well-ordered government should exist in the Southern 
States, the policy of which should be dictated by 
their obvious interests, and not by those of Xew 
Eno-land. Certain social accidents, conflictinc: with 
opinions that have gained ground only within the 
last sixty years, are thought by some to be sufficient 
to vitiate the benefit of this mutual interest. Nothing 
could be more false, and a more intimate mutual 
acquaintance would prove its falsity. Those who 
believe that it is the duty of England to demand 
conditions from the South in her present difficulties, 
may be referred to the result of the contest between 



INTRODUCTION. XXV 

Boreas and tlie Sun, of which a lonely traveller was 
the object. Free Trade is obviously to the interest 
of the Confederate States, yet there is reason to fear 
that, should the war continue, the Government of 
the Confederate States will encounter great difficulties 
in carrying out this policy, since the blockade has com- 
pelled the South to manufacture for herself. Large 
amounts of capital have been forced into this channel, 
and when the war ceases this must, without pro- 
tection, become a total loss. It may well be asked, 
whether it would be just to sacrifice those who have 
saved the South, for the interest of those who saw 
the blockade — the true cause of the gi*eat length of 
the war — go into force without a protest. The wedge 
once introduced, we should in all probability have 
the history of the protective system of the old Union, 
which sprang up in this way, reenacted. The large 
national debt would also operate in the same dii'ec- 
tion, and have a stronger ground for its defence in 
the fact that it would lighten in a high degree direct 
taxation. 

The most important industrial considerations 
arising from the war, and consequent blockade, are 
the efi"ects upon the cotton interests of Great Britain 
and the Confederate States. Allusion to this subject 
must naturally be very incomplete here, as a careful 
investigation of all the questions involved would 
demand a separate volume. 



XXVI INTKODUCTION. 

A little over a century ago commenced in England 
that series of inventions which render it the most 
important era in her commercial history. Coin- 
cident with the improvements in the machinery for 
spinning cotton and weaving cotton cloth, came into 
operation the improvements in the application of 
steam power. Immediately after the above-men- 
tioned inventions for the manufacture of cotton, 
followed that of the cotton gin, for separating the 
wool from the seed, an invention destined to revo- 
lutionise commerce. This gave the first impetus 
to the culture of cotton in the South, the rapid de- 
velopement of which furnishes the most remarkable 
facts in the history of industry. Before the com- 
mencement of the cotton trade between Europe and 
the present Confederate States, the manufacture of 
cotton had slowly but steadily increased in England. 
The importation of cotton wool amounted in 1795 
to 22,600,000 lbs., of which only 100,000 lbs. came 
from the East Indies. The cotton gin was intro- 
duced in 1793, and in 1794 1,601,760 lbs. and 
in 1795 5,276,300 lbs. of cotton were exported from 
the South. The total quantity of cotton ex- 
ported from the South to Europe in 1860 was 
1,767,686,338 lbs., valued at 191,806,555 dollars. 
This estimate of value does not of course include 
that of 1,000,000 of bales retained and consumed 
mostly in New England. This gives an additional 



INTRODUCTION. XXVll 

500,000,000 lbs, to the cotton production of the 
South, which may be valued at 50,000,000 dollars. 
The amount of capital invested in the manufacture 
of cotton in Great Britain in 1787 was 1,000,000/., 
the number of operatives employed being about 
60,000. The total import of cotton into Great 
Britain in 1860 was 1,390,938,752 lbs., of which 
1,115,890,608 lbs. were imported from the United 
States; 204,141,168 lbs. from the East Indies; 
1,050,784 lbs. from the West Indies; 17,286,864 lbs. 
from the Brazils; and 52,369,328 lbs. from all 
other countries. Of the whole amount imported, 
1,140,510,112 lbs. were retained for British manu- 
factures. The declared value of cotton yarns and 
goods exported in 1860 was 44,104,636/., being about 
4,100,000/. less than in 1859. The cheapness of 
cotton goods, as well as the enormous increase in 
the wealth of the country produced by the cotton 
trade, has been a source of incalculable benefit to 
all classes, and to all branches of industry. This 
cheapness of one of the principal necessaries of 
life has raised the standard of comfort and caused 
a greater demand for luxuries, affording increased 
means for their gratification. This fact applies 
not only to Great Britain, but to all other countries 
where cotton cloths are largely consumed; so that 
cotton may be considered one of the greatest agents 
for increasing commerce and extending civilization. 



XXVIU INTRODUCTION. 

It is an undisputed fiict, that the steady and rapid 
increase of the production of cotton in the South, 
its convenience to the British manufacturer, and its 
cheapness and superior quality, have been the causes 
of the great increase in this branch of British industry. 

There being no way of accounting for the position 
of America in the cotton trade, except by the opera- 
tion of natural laws, it is of great importance to 
have these clearly in view in discussing the general 
question of the cotton supply, the results of the 
American war, and the possible effects of the blockade 
of the Southern ports upon the future of the cotton 
trade. 

The cotton plant is not an indigenous growth of the 
Southern States, having been imported from the West 
Indies in 1621. It was first cultivated upon the 
Southern coast, but its culture has gradually been ex- 
tended northward, until it forms the principal article 
of export from eight of the Southern States ; and, great 
as is its production, there is every reason to believe 
that, without a revolution in the industry of the 
Southern States, it may be almost indefinitely in- 
creased.* In the extension of its cultivation north- 
wards, the plant had to become acclimated ; but such 
was the natural adaptation of the soil and climate to 
the growth of those kinds of cotton demanded by 
commerce, that the quality of the cotton has been 

* Consult Introduction to The South Vindicated. 'Williams. 



INTRODUCTION. XXIX 

greatly improved. The exact part played by pecu- 
liarity of soil is difficult to be determined, yet it 
is well knoAvn that soils otherwise equally good are 
not equally adapted to the production of cotton. 
The influence of soil has nothing surprising in it, 
since it has long been observed in the case of tobacco, 
wine, coffee, and tea; it is, however, difficult to 
separate this influence from that of climate, but there 
is no doubt that it exists, and, in all probability, has 
something to do with tlie superiority of American 
cottons. The most important advantage which 
America possesses is its climate, combining, as it 
does, the characteristics of the tropical and of the 
temperate zones. During the season for the growth 
and maturition of the plant, the warm, moist winds 
from the Gulf of Mexico equalize the temperature, 
and occasion, as a rule, an abundant but not ex- 
cessive fall of rain, so necessary to its successful 
cultivation. To those well acquainted with the con- 
ditions necessary to the successful culture of cotton 
it will be obvious, that a climate subject to long 
droughts, alternating with a superabundance of 
rain, are entirely unsuified to its culture, as, under 
these circumstances, almost all the pods will be 
'shed,' or stunted in their growth. During the 
'picking' season the quantity of rain should be ex- 
tremely small, and the weather clear and cool, which 
is true of the climate of the South for the greater 



XXX INTRODUCTION. 

part of the picking season. The winters, influenced 
by northerly winds, are often quite cold for short 
periods, even as far south as Florida, the fall of rain 
being, as a rule, quite moderate. These two circum- 
stances are very favourable to the fruitfulness of the 
soil, and the first must diminish, to a considerable 
extent, the injury to the cotton plant from insects 
during its growth. This is a fact by no means to 
be underrated, for it is a source of great annual loss, 
amounting sometimes to the half, and, in exceptional 
cases, to almost the whole of the crop. Fortunately, 
the loss in America from this source, though always 
considerable, is not uniform over the whole cotton 
region, or even over the same plantation, so that the 
uniformity in the production is not seriously dis- 
turbed. There are two disadvantages for the culti- 
vation of cotton in the Southern States, growing out 
of the character of the winter season. Unlike most 
of the cotton-producing countries of the world, the 
winter is so cold that the seed must be sown an- 
nually ; besides, the cotton plant is usually killed over 
almost the whole of the cotton region by the middle 
or last of October. Could the death of the plant be 
delayed a month, it would be utterly impossible, with 
the present supply of labour, to gather the crops 
which the area at present cultivated would produce. 
It is probable, however, that this would bring with 
it a corresponding impoverishment of the soil. Kot- 



INTKODUCTION. XXXI 

witlistanding the comparative shortness of the season, 
the average yield per acre of clean cotton is much 
higher than in India. The yield per acre varies very 
much, even in the same locality, being for the whole 
South from 200 to 1,000 lbs. ; while in India it is 
from 60 to 80 lbs. This fact of itself would be 
sufficient to cause us to doubt the capacity of India 
to compete successfully with America in the cotton 
market. It is true, that the cotton region of the 
South is in the summer season not free from climatic 
disadvantages, in certain portions intermittent fever 
prevailing, while in others yellow fever and cholera 
make their appearance at times. The negro is, 
however, comparatively little injured by the inter- 
mittent and seldom attacked by the yellow fever, 
and it may for this and other reasons be considered 
the natural climate of the negro. As regards 
healthfulness, it will comjDare favourably with any 
cotton-producing region of the world, which the 
statistics of population conclusively prove. The 
sparseness of population of the Southern States, and 
the fact that it is almost exclusively agricultural, 
which furnishes one of the most important conditions 
for enabling a nation to devote itself to a great ex- 
port trade in grain, or raw material, are again reasons 
which increase its chances of success in a competition 
with India. One of the most potent causes of the 
success of the Southern States in the cultivation of 

b 



XXXll INTRODUCTION. 

cotton is to be found in the organization of their labour, 
and its relation to capital. This relation of labour 
and capital places both under the immediate direction 
of the most intelligent class, and renders their opera- 
tions harmonious and certain, and, in eifect, obtains 
the greatest results with the least loss of material and 
effort. The Southern States have built up a great 
railroad system which has cost about 250,000,000 
dollars, and this almost exclusively by means of 
private home capital. This has perfected her system 
of internal intercourse, and brought the whole of 
her vast territory into rapid communication with the 
sea. Their geographical position with relation to 
Europe is again of great advantage, enabling them 
to deliver the raw material cheaper; for, when it is 
a question of the transport of an article so bulky in 
proportion to value, distance from market must 
always be a matter of prime consideration. When 
all these advantages are combined in one country in 
the hands of an energetic, intelligent, and skillful 
people, can there be any doubt of their superiority 
above other competitors? These advantages, to- 
gether with the vast fields suited to the cultivation 
of cotton not yet brought into cultivation, considered 
with reference to the ftict of tlie rapid increase of 
tlie labouring class of the Southern States, enable us 
to predict with certainty that, should no disturbance 
of the existing order of things take place, they will 



INTRODUCTION. XXXIU 

be more than able to meet the increased demand of 
the world. This is rendered more certain by the 
fact that the Southern States, in the greater portion 
of their territory, are not adapted to the cultivation 
of those tropical productions most likely to draw off 
the capital of the other cotton-growing regions 
from the cultivation of cotton. The planter of the 
Southern States appreciates his advantages to the 
fullest extent, and has no fear of foreign competition ; 
in fact, he feels that to a certain extent the g-reat 
demand for cotton has been a disadvantage to the 
South, for it has tended to cause the investment of 
too much capital in this direction. 

The country next in importance as a competitor 
for supplying Europe with cotton is India. That 
tliis is the country upon which Europe must chiefly 
depend, as long as tjie supply from America is cut 
off by the blockade, is a fact almost universally 
admitted. At the time of the institution of the 
blockade, India stood second on the list of exporters 
of cotton to Europe. In 1795, the import of cotton 
from the East Indies into England amounted only 
to 100,000 lbs., while in 1860 it amounted to 
204,141,608 lbs. Ages ago, India was a centre of 
the cultivation and manufacture of cotton; and 
at the time of the commencement of its culture 
in the Southern States, she was an exporter of 
cotton goods. At present, she imports from 

b2 



XXXIV INTRODUCTION. 

England cotton yarns and goods, manufactured 
mostly from American cotton, to the amount of six 
or eight millions of pounds sterling. The same 
stimulus which was brought to bear upon other 
countries was extended to her, and yet we see how 
small has been her contribution to the cotton trade. 
It must be that great natural disadvantages exist, 
that the population do not possess the skill and capital 
necessary, or that they find the cultivation of grain, 
sugar, and indigo more profitable. All writers about 
India agree that if she is to be depended upon for 
supplying Europe with cotton, a much higher price 
must be paid than heretofore. Another fact, upon 
which all the world is agreed, is that up to this time 
the cotton supplied by India has been of a very in- 
ferior quality, and, for manufacturing purposes, must 
be mixed with the American cottons of bad colour, 
in the proportion of 15 to 85, the Indian cottons 
having all a fine colour. At present, one j^ound of 
Indian cotton yields but twelve ounces of yarn, 
while the same quantity of American cotton yields 
thirteen ounces and a half. Spinners obtain three- 
pence halfpenny for converting one pound of Surat 
cotton into yarn, while they only obtain threepence 
farthing for converting the same quantity of American. 
It has been seen that the cotton of India is mixed 
with the inferior American sorts, in order to improve 
their colour, which would in a great degree account 



INTRODUCTION. XXXV 

for the increased use of the former, and thus place it 
in the position of a commercial parasite. This impor- 
tation of Indian cotton may also be taken as partially 
representing the amount of cotton freed by the dis- 
placement of the Indian manufactures, and not as an 
absolute increase of its production. There is nothing, 
however, which proves so conclusively the want of 
adaptation of East Indian cotton to the British 
market as the tables of cotton consumption ; showing 
that, of the 524,000 bales imported, only 176,000 or 
56,760,000 lbs. were retained for home consumption, 
the rest being taken by the Continent. 

On account of the want of facts, it is impossible to 
speak of the suitedness of the soil of India to the 
cultivation of cotton. The fact that it requires from 
five to six acres of land for the production of a bale 
of 385 lbs. is conclusive as regards the question of 
productiveness; but as so many elements enter into 
this consideration, we must content ourselves with 
the discussion of those which are certain. The climate 
of India is purely tropical, and in this fact there is 
all the difference between success and failure. Of 
course, this does not apply equally to the whole of 
India ; still it is true for that part upon which we 
must depend for some years to come. Mr. Laing, 
speaking of the dependence to be placed upon India 
for the future supply of cotton, says : ' India has one 
disadvantage only, the climate, and that is extreme.' 



XXXVl INTRODUCTION. 

As singular as it ;iiay appear, the cotton seed of tlie 
Southern States is exj^orted to India; seeming to 
show that there is an essential defect in the climate, 
otherwise the Indian cotton must have improved 
more than it has after ages of culture. Like the 
potato, the cotton plant seems not perfect itself in it 
native climate. The purely tropical character of the 
climate of India, with its storms, long droughts, and 
wet season, so disadvantageous to the cotton-plant, is 
still favourable to the successful cultivation of indigo, 
tea, coffee, and sugar. Even the extreme southern 
portions of some of the Southern Gulf States is, by 
reason of the more tropical character of the climate, 
unfavourable to the gro^\i:h of cotton; the plant 
growing luxuriantly, but the wool becoming fine and 
weak. There may be provinces in India which, by 
reason of their possessing a more favourable climate, 
were they developed and brought into communica- 
tion with the sea, would be able to furnish a better 
quality of cotton than has yet been sent to Europe. 
The province of Dharwar seems to give some promise, 
yet the success claimed, if certain, has been on a 
small scale, and is not available for saving Lancashire 
from ruin. We have seen that the Southern cotton 
States are as yet sparsely settled, and almost purely 
devoted to agriculture, the principal product being 
cotton ; for, as a rule, provisions are only raised in 
sufficient quantities for home use. We know, more- 



INTRODUCTION. XXXVll 

over, that should bread fall short, the granaries of 
the Border States and of the North- West are at 
their doors, to supply their wants much more cheaply 
than India could supply hers in case of a similar 
need. India, with her 200,000,000 of souls, is ever 
liable to famine, and cannot supply herself rapidly in 
case of want, and then only at famine prices. We could 
easily conceive of such a state of population that the 
surplus of land to be employed in the raising of 
articles not for food would be very limited. This, it 
is true, is not the case with India ; yet the size of the 
population, when considered in relation to the produc- 
tiveness of her agriculture, is such, that provisions 
must be dear, and thus any crop not cultivated for 
food must be very profitable. Now, upon a com- 
parison of the profits of capital engaged in the 
cultivation of grain with those engaged in the culti- 
vation of cotton in India, we find that the advan- 
tage is largely in favour of grain; being by some 
estimated even as high as 50 per cent, for ordinary 
times. This would, however, not' prevent the 
increase of the cultivation of cotton, were it not that 
other articles, as mentioned above, came first in order 
with regard to the profitableness of their culture. 
Mr. Laing estimates the increase of the area cultivated 
in cotton necessary to meet the wants of Great 
Britain at from ten to twenty million acres, which 
to the initiated means years engaged in improving 



XXXVlll INTRODUCTION. 

land, and in changing the direction of capital. 
AYriters upon the cotton supply never tire in their 
descriptions of the miserable condition of the Ryot, 
his want of energy and enterprise, his Asiatic stub- 
bornness in adhering to old customs and usages, 
his partial dependence upon the capitalist, without 
the advantages to himself and production growing 
out of a more complete dependence. We are told of 
his want of skill and honesty, in fact, of his total 
degradation, and yet Mr. Laing informs us that it 
is upon this class that Lancashire must depend in 
case the American supply should be long withheld; 
for he affirms that the European planters find it 
more profitable to raise tea, and other articles of a 
similar kind. According to this, the cultivation of 
cotton by the Ryot is to a certain extent a thing of 
habit, want of skill and capital for the cultivation of 
other products, the developement of which would 
rather tend to diminish the cultivation of cotton in 
the districts best adapted to the culture of coffee, 
tea, indigo, and sugar. The village capitalist has 
been pictured as a tyrant ruling without mercy the 
Ryot, and cheating the cotton consumer at will. 
The merchants of India have been blamed because 
they have not developed the cotton production as 
that of other things, as though the special mission 
of the Indian merchant was to have foreseen the 
American blockade, and the policy of the European 



INTRODUCTION. XXXIX 

powers, — in a word, to have ruined himself, in order to 
rescue Lancashire. Of course the Indian and Home 
Governments have been blamed by the manufacturers ; 
the manufacturers have been blamed by everyone else, 
while nobody is really to be blamed, as nobody could 
have prevented the result which has taken place. The 
blockade has caused all the trouble, and its removal 
is the only remedy. The question, as regards India, 
has seldom been fairly stated. It is not whether India, 
by any possibility, can supply England with cotton, but 
whether she can supply it now, and of such a sort as 
England needs. Mr. Laing, the best authority who 
has yet spoken, has given a most decided negative in 
reply, and every fact yet adduced serves to confirm 
this view. Let us, however, admit the capacity of 
India to produce such cotton, and of such quantity as 
desired; will she make the endeavour as long as 
there is the least danger that the supplies in America 
may be brought into the market ? India cannot afford 
to furnish her cotton, inferior as it is, in greatly 
increased quantities at former prices; and all the 
world knows that, should the supply from America 
commence to flow in, her cotton would have no chance, 
except in the ridiculous remedy of an import tax 
upon the cotton produced by slave labour. This 
would of Course result in transferring the seat of 
cotton manufacture to the Continent. The estimates 
of the amount of cotton available for 1863 have been 



xl INTRODUCTION. 

much too large ; but even admitting the correctness 

of the figures of those who look ruin most hopefully 

in the face, they do not represent the amount of 

relief claimed from them. For the large amount of 

manufactured goods on hand must cooperate with the 

fear to manufacture inferior cotton, in hindering any 

activity in the manufacture of Indian cottons, since 

the doubt exists that, before the present supply of 

goods is exhausted, an infinitely better class of cotton 

will come into the market. Even the most hopeful 

do not claim that the mill owners will be able to run 

their mills with profit; but that they may do so 

without loss. In considering the amount of cotton 

to be expected, sufiacient stress has not been laid 

upon the fact, that great increase in price has drained 

all cotton-growing countries of any reserve which 

might have been on hand, so that we must depend 

upon tlie crops now maturing or being gathered. The 

fact that the Continent has heretofore used the greater 

part of the cotton from India, would seem to indicate 

that the increased supply will benefit it more than 

Eno;land. An examination of all the facts which 

bear upon the question of the cotton supply leads to 

the conclusion that we cannot reckon upon the mills 

working much more than an average of two days 

full time during the coming year, should the 

cotton of America be kept out of the market so long. 

It may be a little more, and yet the ruinous effects 



INTRODUCTION. xli 

will be but slightly modified. After all, it is sounder 
economy to support tlie operatives than to clog the 
market with a superabundance of inferior cloth. 

The other sources of supply, furnishing at present 
about 70,000,000 lbs., are generally admitted to be 
incapable of any very rapid extension. Considering 
the enormous interests at stake, it is a source for 
wonder that the subject of the cotton supply has 
been so imperfectly understood in England, and that 
in the agony of the present industrial convulsion any 
portion of the educated public should seek conso- 
lation in stupid ravings against the system of labour 
in the Southern States, or hope for relief for Lan- 
cashire from the almost unexplored and unorganized 
resources of Africa. It seems that, in their hatred 
of the South, these advocates of peace or extermina- 
tion, according to the mood of the moment, have 
forgotten that the want is immediate, that fellow 
beings are suffering, that proud wills are being bent, 
and sensitive hearts broken, and that the grand 
question of commercial supremacy is involved ; while 
they offer for hope a possibility not to be realized in 
a half century, if even in so short a space of time. 
Do these dreamers and excited missionaries believe 
that commerce can be revolutionised by a sample of 
cotton and a little platform notoriety ? Has it not long 
been known that Africa produced cotton indigenously ? 
Do these good people forget that Africa is the great 



xlii INTRODUCTION. 

slaveliolding country of modern times? Do they 
forget that more slaves are used in Africa as human 
sacrifices than are exported to the whole world 
besides ? Have they forgotten the King of Dahomey ? 
It seems that, instead of the present calamities 
of England having been caused by the ' wickedness 
<5f using slave-grown cotton,' they have resulted 
rather from its scarcitv. 

In estimating the stock of cotton on hand in 
America, the amount which must have been used 
for home purposes during the war seems to have 
been left out of question. Before the war com- 
menced, the South manufactured cotton annually 
to the amount of 185,000 bales, or 74,000,000 lbs. 
Since the war, she could not have consumed in this 
way less than 500,000 bales. Before the war the 
Southern States were large importers of cotton goods, 
those manufactured by her being of the heavier sorts. 
Since the war, being cut off from her usual supply, 
and being neither a cultivator of flax nor of wool to 
any extent, she has been compelled to use cotton 
goods as a substitute for goods manufactured from 
those articles. The amount used as a substitute for 
leather in the form of roping and coarse cloth must 
have been very great, not to speak of that used for 
tents, waggon-covers, and the like. Of course, a 
considerable part of this will have been manufactured 
by hand. 



INTRODUCTION. xliii 

The rapidity witli wliicli the supply of American 
cotton could be brought forward upon the opening of 
the blockaded ports has, it seems, been exaggerated in 
both senses. The surplus of the crop of 1860, which 
is not unimportant, will in all probability have been 
packed, and, though retained in the interior, can be 
brought forward to the seaboard with rapidity. The 
exact time necessary for the shipowners to get in- 
formation that it will be safe to send ships forward, 
for the latter to reach the Southern ports, load, and 
return to Liverpool, must depend upon whether 
steamers or sailing ships will be used in the first in- 
stance. On account of the high price of cotton, and 
the necessity for European manufactured articles in 
the South, it is highly probable that at first the 
number of steam- vessels bringing return cargoes of 
cotton will not be inconsiderable, and that, though 
there is no possibility of any large amount of Ameri- 
can cotton being thrown upon the market at any one 
time, still some relief will be obtained from moderate 
supplies arriving shortly after the termination of the 
war. Those speculative interests which have been 
brought into existence by the blockade naturally 
seek to show that an opening of the ports would 
bring great disaster upon the country; yet this is 
unimportant, when compared with the injury which 
follows upon the existence of the blockade and the 
uncertainty of its termination. 



Xliv INTRODUCTION. 

There is no doubt that a much longer continu- 
ance of the blockade, or a serious disturbance of 
the labour system of the South, would be of perma- 
nent injury to the commercial position of England. 
The war will never be terminated by the surrender 
on the part of the South of the objects for which 
she fights; while the North has given every evi- 
dence of a savage determination to do her worst, 
regardless of the laws of justice, humanity, and of 
common decency, so that, whether in suspending all 
the rights of her own citizens, in the massacre of 
prisoners of war, in warring upon women, children, 
and defenceless men, in sacking and burning of 
towns, in exciting a half civilized race to the ex- 
termination of a civilized people, in gloating over the 
distress of Manchester, or in her forgetfulness of all 
the rules of intercourse between civilized nations, 
she but declares herself what she, by the composition 
and character of the majority of her people, truly is, 
a nation with all the appliances of civilization and 
the nature of savages. 

We have seen that the consumption of East Indian 
cotton by Great Britain was only 176,000 bales, or 
about 56,700,000 lbs. ; while the export trade to 
India in cotton yarns and cloths amounts to not far 
from 8,000,000^. annually. These, of course, must 
be mostly manufactured from American cotton, so 
that we may regard it as established that she has 



INTRODUCTION. xlv 

obtained this market by means of the large quantity, 
superior quality, and cheapness of American cotton. 
For a confirmation of this view we have but to con- 
sider that the Indian manufactures, primitive as they 
are, have held their ground tolerably well against the 
capital, machinery, and skill of Europe, and this 
leaves no ground for supposing that had England 
heretofore obtained her supply of cotton from India, 
her manufactures of cotton would have attained any 
great importance ; and leads us to believe that, 
should the supply from America be long cut off or 
seriously diminished, she would be driven from some 
of her best markets. This applies with especial force 
to the Asiatic market, the grand field for the future 
extension of the consumption of cotton, which, once 
opened, would tax the producing power of the world 
to the utmost. I have, up to this point, purposely 
avoided referring to the distance of India from 
Europe as a source of disadvantage in the compe- 
tition with America in furnishino^ the English 
market with raw cotton. This, though in that sense 
a disadvantage to India, would be, in case England 
lost the advantage which American cotton gives her, 
an important advantage for India in the manufacture 
of cotton, which might transfer the capital of Man- 
chester to the banks of the Ganges. The chances of 
this would be nuich increased were a decided im- 
provement in the staple of Indian cotton to take place, 



xlvi INTRODUCTION. 

thus, possibly, enabling her to compete with England 
in all parts of the world, even should American 
cotton continue to flow into the market. England 
excels India only in capital, skilled labour, and cheap 
coal ; while the extreme cheapness of labour in India 
(it being only a fourth so dear as in England), the 
ingenious and docile nature of the inhabitants, the 
superior climate for manufacturing purposes, and 
the fact that the producer of the raw material, the 
manufacturer and the consumer of manufactured 
articles are upon the same spot, give India advantages 
not to be despised. Cheap coal is not an advantage 
of great importance; and the want of capital and 
trained labour are by no means insurmountable 
obstacles in the case of India. The extreme jealousy 
of those interested in obtaining cotton from India 
and extending the market there for cotton yarns and 
cloths, because of the petty import duty of 3^, and 
5 per cent, upon these, will be a sufficient proof that 
the question is not entirely a speculative one. It is 
not uninteresting to observe, how entirely these per- 
sons regard India as ' clay in the hands of a potter.' 
Surely, if it be true that the affair is so nicely 
balanced, it would be a temptation, regarded from 
the ' Indian point of view,' to neglect for a short 
time the teachings of Adam Smith. Mr. Laing, in a 
letter addressed to Samuel Giles, Hon. Sec. to the 
Manchester Committee formed for the abolition of 



INTRODUCTION. xlvii 

tlie Indian tariff on cotton goods and yarns, writes as 
follows : 

' The cotton industry is the largest branch of 
English manufactures, and India is the largest market 
in the world for cotton goods. India has also a large 
native manufacture, which, although conducted for 
the most part by primitive methods, still enters into 
effective competition with the imported article over a 
large area. India, moreover, is commencing cotton 
manufacture with all the advantages of modern 
science and machinery, under circumstances which 
hold out good hope of future progress. 

' A cotton factory at Bombay has the advantage of 
savins; two freisfhts — on the raw material homewards, 
and the manufactured article outwards ; and her 
labour, even now, after the great recent rise of wages 
in India, is at about the same rate per month as is 
paid per week in Lancashire. Coal is dearer, but 
this is a comparatively small item in the total cost of 
the production of a factory, and the main disadvan- 
tage is the want of that concentration of capital and 
skill which is found in a district which has been for 
years the metropolis of the cotton-manufacturing 
interest of the world. But tliis is a disadvantage 
which diminishes with the creation of every new 
factory, and, as regards the Indian market at least, 
the comparative cheapness of labour and raw material 

c 



xlviii INTRODUCTION. 

makes the rising factories of India rivals not to be 
despised. 

' I admit, therefore, fully the importance, from an 
English point of view, of a further reduction of the 
5 per cent, import duty. But if India is to be 
retained in peaceful and loyal allegiance to the British 
Crown, these matters must be looked upon in an 
Indian as in an English point of view; and the in- 
terests and wishes and the feelings of its 150,000,000 
of inhabitants must be the primary consideration in 
deciding how to raise the necessary revenue.' 

The same high authority has also said that ' our 
only hope is from America,' and the facts bearing on 
the case tend to confirm this idea ; nor should the 
evidence of a citizen of the Confederate States be 
received with more suspicion, since the planters of 
the South fear no competition, and know that their 
interests for a long time to come will be identical 
with those of England. Cheerless, indeed, would be 
their feelings, should the termination of this war find 
the capital and labour of England now employed in 
the cotton trade scattered and disorganised. Concen- 
trated in a small space, the sufferings of this vast 
interest must in England be tenfold more intense than 
in other countries, and the recovery will be compara- 
tively slow. Circumstances have ])roken the effects 
of the blow upon the prosperity of England caused 



INTRODUCTION. xHx 

by the war in America; but should the supply of 
American cotton be much longer deferred, the chief 
advantage in the manufacture of cotton possessed 
by England over the Continental States will be 
lost. 

Should the war not disorganise the labour of the 
South more than it has up to this time, there will be 
no diminution of importance in the supply of cotton 
which she will hereafter be able to furnish. Should 
no more of the cotton already gathered be destroyed, 
there will be, at least, as much on the plantations as 
would amount to a full crop ; and should the war 
close before March 1, 1863, the crop for that year 
would not be so much diminished by the desolation 
of the plantations on the coast and rivers as might be 
thought, since the large excess of provisions in the 
country will enable the rest to cultivate a greater 
area in cotton. 

The question of the future political relations of 
India, might here be discussed; but this, though of 
great interest in connection with the cotton question, 
would lead us too far. It would be easy to show 
that, supposing India as capable of furnishing Eng- 
land with cotton as the Southern States, still, from 
political causes, this supply will be, in the future 
at least, equally liable to disturbance as that from 
the South. 



1 INTRODUCTION. 

The cotton trade of England, gigantic as it may 
seem, is small in comparison with what it may be- 
come, in case of the continued prosperity of the 
Southern States, as it is but in its infancy. 

BoLLiNG A. Pope. 

London: Deceniher 1862. 



TEE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE 
IN AMERICA. 

CHAPTER I. 

POLITICAL RELATIONS OP THE STATES OF THE UNION 
TO EACH OTHER. 

The first tendency of distinct communities in 
America to form political leagues is to be sought 
for at a period soon after tlie settlement of tlie 
colonies in New England, about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. As early as the year 1607 the 
English had planted a colony in Virginia, and a few 
years subsequently the Dutch one in New York. It 
was at a still later period that the English estab- 
lished themselves in the region afterwards known as 
New England. 

The presence of the Dutch settlers in New York 
called forth a feeling of jealousy on the part of 
certain colonies of En owlish orio;in, which caused 
them to conclude an ofi'ensive and defensive alliance, 

B 



Z THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

to which they gave the name ' the United Colonies 
of Xew England.' An examination of the character 
of this first confederation shows that its provisions 
were limited to a state of war, to the relations of its 
members with the Indians, and to the rendition of 
fugitives from justice. In all other respects the 
jurisdiction and government of each colony was 
reserved to itself. On more than one occasion, it 
may be remarked, did it occur that diiferences arose 
about the construction of these simple Articles of 
Union.* 

From this it will appear that the sole motive for 
union was self-defence ; and it is singular to observe 
that the provisions of this first confederation, in 
substance, obtained a conspicuous place in the con- 
struction of the later American Union. 

The second political league that claims our atten- 
tion in America was that of all the Eno-lish colonies 
on the Atlantic coast, which was formed in compli- 
ance with the recommendation of their delegates in 
Congress assembled at Philadelphia in September 
1774. 

When the colonies sent their delegates to this 
general Congress at Philadelphia, alleging that the 
English Government had deprived them of a part of 
their inalienable rights, there was no intention on 

* Tucker : 'History of the United States.' Thiladelpliia, 1856. 
Vol. i. p. 29. 



COMPLAINTS OF THE COLONISTS. 3 

their part of revolting from the crown of England. 
On the contrary, the sole design was to devise means 
for obtaining redress of their different grievances. 
To some of the delegates no instructions whatever 
were given, except to attend the Congress. This 
was true in the case of New Jersey and New York. 

The' chief ground of complaint was, notoriously, 
the fact that taxes had been imposed upon the 
colonies without their consent. It was contended 
that in conformity to the English constitution, no 
portion of the country could be taxed without being 
represented, and that it was both unconstitutional 
and unjust to deny to the colonies the right of send- 
ing representatives to the English parliament, or at 
least of having a parliament of their own. 

As a second cause of grievance was characterised 
the infringement of the right of personal liberty 
of the colonists ; Avho instead of being tried 
by peers of their own country, as other English 
subjects, were transported to England, there to 
answer to criminal accusations before foreio;n tri- 
bunals. 

Accordingly Congress made a declaration of the 
fundamental rights of all the colonists, giving promi- 
nence to the right of trial by jury, and security of 
personal liberty by means of the privilege of the writ 
of habeas corpus. 

It was only when it was ascertained that the 



4 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

measures proposed by Congress, and the representa- 
tions made to the Crown had failed to attain the 
intended results, that the colonies determined to 
dissolve all political connection with the mother 
country. 

In their celebrated Declaration of Independence the 
colonists proclaimed that to their inalienable rights 
belong ' life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ; 
that to secure these rights, governments are in- 
stituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed.' Because these rights 
had been violated, the colonies threw off their alle- 
giance to the crown. 

When, however, England decided to force the 
colonies to obedience, they united, thirteen in 
number, for their common defence, to offer resist- 
ance ; and thus commenced the first war of independ- 
ence in America. 

Authority for conducting the war, and for pro- 
viding for the general welfare of the colonies, was 
delegated to the Congress of Philadelphia, known in 
American history as the ' Old Continental Congress.' 

Conformably to these powers, certain ' Articles 
of Confederation ' were framed and adopted by 
Congress, which were intended to serve as the condi- 
tions of a permanent union of the colonies. The 
' Articles of Confederation ' which had been adopted 
on November 15, 1777, by Congress, would never 



FIRST RECOGNITION OF STATE-SOVEREIGNTY. 5 

have obtained any legal validity or binding authority 
whatever, without the ratification of the individual 
colonies, as was expressly declared at that time. 
For in pursuance of a resolution of Congress the 
' Articles of Confederation ' were sent to the different * 
colonies, now styled States, for ratification, and were, 
at different times during the period between 1777 
and 1781, successively ratified by the conventions of 
the several States. In this act we perceive the first 
open recognition of the sovereignty claimed by the 
individual States. That no doubt whatever may re- 
main as to the existence of the claim of sovereignty 
by the States, and of their mutual recognition of their 
respective claims, it may be well to consider the 
provisions of the ' Articles of Confederation.' We 
read as follows : — 

' Art. II. Each State retains its sovereignty, free- 
dom, and independence, and every power, juris- 
diction, and right, which is not by this Confederation 
expressly delegated to the United States in Congress 
assembled.' 

No room is here left for doubt. Not only was the 
sovereignty of each State acknowledged by all the 
others, but, by the unequivocal terms of this league, 
this sovereignty was emphatically reserved to the 
States. 

In the meantime, between 1776 and 1780, each of 

* Tucker, vol. i. p. 225. 



6 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

the thirteen States, with the exception of New Jersey 
and Connecticut, which still retained the charters 
granted by Charles II. in 1662, had framed a new 
constitution. And, with the exception of Massa- 
chusetts alone, every State had adopted its new 
constitution before the framing of the ' Articles of 
Confederation ' by the Old Congress. We know, in 
fact, that the constitutions of the States served in a 
measure as a model for the ' Articles of Confederation.' 
And as the States asserted their sovereignty, in their 
constitutions, prior to the adoption of the ' Articles 
of Confederation,' it cannot be maintained that the 
States derived their sovereignty from the Union. 

A clear notion of the nature of this league may be 
gained by a further examination of the provisions of 
the ' Articles of Confederation.' The objects of the 
league are stated as follows : — ' Art. III. The said 
States hereby severally enter into a firm league of 
friendship with each other, for their common defence, 
the security of their liberties, and their mutual and 
general welfare ; binding themselves to assist each 
other against all force offered to or attacks made upon 
them or any of them.' 

Is it not evident from this language that, at least 
here, there was no idea of a consolidated government 
ignoring the sovereignty of the single States ? 

For the better management of the general interests 
of the United States, a Congress is provided by 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 7 

Art. V. "wliose powers are subsequently enumerated 
with the greatest care. 

Finally, it is provided by Art. XIII. that ' Every 
State shall abide by the determination of the United 
States in Congress assembled, in all questions which 
by this Confederation are submitted to them. And 
the articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably 
observed by every State, and the Union shall be per- 
petual : nor shall any alterations at any time hereafter 
be made in them, unless such alteration be agreed to 
in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards 
confirmed by the legislatures of every State.' 

The most convincing evidence of the weakness of 
the Federal Government under the ' Articles of 
Confederation ' is the total absence of any provision 
for enforcing the execution of its o^vn laws. Not 
one word occurs with reference to this subject in that 
instrument. Nor can it be assumed that this power 
was to be inferred^ for the Federal Government pos- 
sessed no powers but such as were 'expressly delegated 
to it,' as we have seen in Art. II. We agree entirely 
with the distinguished statesman who asserts that 
the Federal Government was ' destitute of even the 
shadow of constitutional power to enforce the execu- 
tion of its own laws.' * The reason of this seems 

* See No. xxi. of the ' Federalist ' — a collectioa of essays written in 
favour of the new constitution. New York 1788. No better authority 
for the interpretation of the constitution is to be found than the 
' Federalist.' 



8 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

obvious. It was the intention of the States, in unit- 
incf under the ' Articles of Confederation,' to secure 
themselves against external attacks. No doubt was 
entertained that in the presence of a common danger 
they would be induced to cooperate with accord for 
self-defence. This being then the chief object of the 
league, it was held to be unnecessary to grant any 
special power to the Federal Government for that 
purpose ; particularly when such power might tend 
to restrict the exercise of certain rights based upon 
the sovereignty of the States. In fact, nothing was 
more natural than that in attempting to make them- 
selves independent of the English Government, the 
States should have been chary of constituting a govern- 
ment at home, with powers which might be used for 
oppressing themselves. We shall see, however, that 
the provisions of this league Avere for the most part 
continued in the ' Constitution ' which was framed 
to replace it. 

Experience soon demonstrated that the ' Articles 
of Confederation' were sufficient neither for the 
administration of the . general interests, nor for 
promoting the general welfare of the States, 
owing to their conflicting interests. In a word, the 
means were not adequate to the accomplishment of 
the object proposed; consequently, the Government 
soon fell into decay, no one seemed to take any 
interest in its success. To remedy these glaring 



FORMATION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 9 

defects in the Federal Government, delegates were 
sent from twelve of the thirteen States, Rhode Island 
refusing to participate, to a general convention, 
which assembled in Philadelphia in May 1787, to 
consult and devise measures for rendering the Union 
' more perfect.' In this convention, which was pre- 
sided over by Washington, eiforts were made to 
define more exactly the relations of the States to 
each other, as well as to their general agent, the 
Federal Government. The most important task, 
however, was to remove for the future those causes 
for contention, which had in more than one instance 
already jeopardised the peace of the country. By 
reconciling conflicting interests it was hoped to 
attain this result. It is evident that this was an 
undertaking of no little magnitude. For the 
population and extent of the several States was a 
fruitful cause of dispute with reference to the basis 
of representation, as well as the varied geographical 
situations, which gave rise to oft recurring difficulties. 
Commercial intercourse also was a source of 
bitter discord. The States possessing harbours and 
the facilities for trade in ships found it to their 
interest to exclude foreign shipping from competition 
with their own. On the other hand, those States 
which were less fortunate in this respect discerned in 
the exclusion of foreign ships a decided disadvantage 
for themselves, because competition would have had 



10 



THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



the effect of rendering the importation of foreign 
articles cheaper. These States demanded the re- 
moval of the restrictions against competition. To 
this the shipping States replied by refusing to accede 
to any diminution of their advantages without full 
indemnity. An appeal was also made to the patriot- 
ism of all the States to permit a policy which would 
result in creating a navy for the United States, the 
want of which had been felt so severely during the war. 
Finally, after long and tedious deliberations, on 
September 17, 1787, the convention adopted a new 
constitution which was communicated to Congress. 
The constitution having met with the approval of 
Congress, was, in conformity with a resolution of that 
body, sent to the States to be ratified or rejected by 
their conventions. As will be seen from the table 
below, nearly three years elapsed before the constitu- 
tion obtained the ratification of all the States.* 



* The constitution was ratified 
following order : — 

Delaware ( 

Pennsylvania 
New Jersey 
Georgia 
Connecticut 
INlassacliusctts 
]\Iaryland 
South Carolina 
New Hampshire 
Virginia 
New York . 
North Carolina 
Rhode Island 



by the State conventions in the 



December 7, 1787. 
December 12, 1787. 
December 18, 1787. 
January 2, 1788. 
January 9, 1788. 
February 6, 1788. 
April 28, 1788. 
May 23, 1788. 
June 21, 1788. 
June 26, 1788. 
July 26, 1788. 
November 21, 1789. 
May 29, 1790. 



OMISSIONS* IN THE CONSTITUTION. 11 



Before entering upon a detailed examination of 
the new constitution, it is necessary to contrast one 
of its articles with one of the ' Articles of Con- 
federation.' Art. VII. of the ' Constitution ' reads 
as follows: — 

' The ratification of the conventions of nine States 
shall be sufficient for the establishment of this con- 
stitution between the States so ratifying the same.' 

We find the following words in Art. XIII. of the 
' Articles of Confederation ' : — 

' And the Articles of the Confederation shall be in- 
violably observed by every State, and the Union shall 
be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time 
hereafter be made in any of them, unless such altera- 
tion be aoTeed to in a Cono^ress of the United States, 
and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of 
every State.' 

If we are to interpret the language of Art. XIII. 
of the ' Articles of Confederation ' literally, we must 
arrive at the conclusion that the theory of those who 
contend that the Union was a thing which could 
never constitutionally cease to exist, is devoid of all 
foundation in fact, and eminently absurd. For it is 
provided by this article, that any alteration may 
be made to the ' Articles of Confederation ' by 
obtaining the consent of 'the legislatures of every 
State.' And as no prominence over the other articles 
is given to that provision which declares that ' the 



12 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Union shall be perpetual,' the conclusion is inevitable 
that, under one condition at least, the unanimous 
consent of all the States, that provision might be 
cancelled, and the Union would be at an end. 

But we must not stop here. How are the facts to 
be accounted for, that in direct contradiction to 
Art. XIII. just cited, the new constitution in Art. 
VII. declares that not the unanimous consent of all 
the States, but simply the ratification of nine States, 
should be sufficient for dissolving the Union? Un- 
questionably, the notion of individual consent on the 
part of the States lies at the foundation of it. The 
fundamental idea that the ' Articles of Confederation' 
constituted a treaty, and nothing more, between in- 
dependent and sovereign States, was firmly estab- 
lished in the convictions of the people. And it was 
believed here too that, as in the case of treaties 
generally, a breach of one article is a breach of the 
whole treaty, and in this case, one party to the treaty 
failing in its obligations, the others are left free to 
consider themselves liberated altogether from the 
compact. Indeed, one of the able commentators in 
the ' Federalist ' * confirms this view. He says : — 

' Should it unhappily be necessary to appeal to these 
delicate truths (i.e. the principles regarding treaties 
just enunciated) for a justification for dispensing 
with the consent of particular States to a dissolution 

* Federalist, No. xliii. 



FIRST SECESSION FROM THE UKION. 13 

of the federal pact, will not the complaining party 
find it a difficult task to answer the multiplied and 
important infractions with which they may be con- 
fronted ? ' 

Is not this language sufficiently unequivocal ? 
Here the right of nine States to dissolve the Union is 
assumed as self-evident, by reason of their sovereignty ; 
but, to avoid all appearance of illegality, the right is 
further based upon that most general principle of 
treaties between foreign nations. These are the 
words of an eminent advocate of the new constitu- 
tion, to prove that there was nothing unconstitutional 
in disregarding Art. XIII. of the ' Articles of Con- 
federation.' 

Facts show that in practice, at least, this doctrine 
was fully recognised. By reference to the dates of 
the ratification of the constitution by the conventions 
of the States, it will be seen that the first secession 
from the Union took place on the part of Delaware, 
on December 7, 1787. Successively eight States 
more seceded, till on June 21, 1788, nine States 
having given their adhesion to the constitution as 
required, a new Union came into existence. But 
there was left the old Union, consisting of the States 
of Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Bhode 
Island. Subsequently three of these States seceded 
to the New Union, and so Rhode Island was left 
alone, and did exist for six months and six days as 



14 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

an independent sovereign State, in no way constitu- 
tionally bound to the ' United States.' 

From May 29, 1790, however, the new Union 
consisted of all the thirteen original States, and the 
constitution was in force among them all. 

A general idea of the constitution may be gained 
from the following summary of its provisions. The 
words of the preamble express distinctly the objects 
for which the constitution was framed. These are 
' to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, 
ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common 
defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.' 

Art. I. establishes a Congress, to which certain 
powers are delegated, they being most carefully and 
accurately enumerated. 

Art. II. provides for the office and duties of the 
executive, whilst it expressly designates the au- 
thority and extent of authority conferred upon the 
President. 

Art. III. regulates the judiciary of the United 
States. 

Art. IV. defines more exactly certain relations of 
the States to each other, as also to their general 
agent, the Federal Government. 

Art. V. relates exclusively to the manner of 
amending the constitution. 

Art. VL acknowledges the validity of certain 



ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND CONSTITUTION. 15 

claims against the old confederation, and charac- 
terises the constitution as the supreme law of the 
land, and requires certain officers of the States as 
well as of the United States to be bound by oath or 
affirmation to support the constitution. 

Art. VII. makes the validity of the constitution 
depend upon the consent of each individual State. 

Two points of difference between the ' Articles of 
Confederation ' and the constitution su2:2:est them- 
selves at the first glance. Firstly, among the 
enumerated powers of Congress, that of making laws 
to carry into execution all powers vested in the 
Federal Government by the constitution. Experience 
had taught the people of the States that such power 
was necessary for the Federal Government. Nor was 
there anything repulsive in the idea of it. On 
entering into this new league, it was but reasonable 
that the States should consent, and desire to have the 
terms of the pact fulfilled. 

This was both wise and just. It would have been 
preposterous for a State, having entered into the 
Union under certain conditions, to have allowed these 
coiiditions to be violated by its citizens, whilst re- 
maining a party to the league. As might naturally 
have been supposed, the power to act upon individuals 
dh^ectly was accorded to the Federal Government, as 
being the most practicable and most expedient 
way of enforcing observance of the constitution. 



16 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

This was too a matter of convenience for the States 
generally. 

Secondly, we miss in the constitution that clause 
of the 'Articles of Confederation' which provides that 
' each State retains its sovereignty, freedom, and in- 
dependence ; and every power, jurisdiction, and right, 
which is not, by this confederation, expressly delegated 
to the United States in Congress assembled.' 

Can any misconception arise from this omission ? 
We think not. No declaration of independence or 
sovereignty was needed. This had been achieved by 
the war with England. Equally self-evident was it, 
that none but delegated powers could appertain to the 
Federal Government. The Federal Government was 
the creature of the State-sovereignties, and could only 
possess attributes conferred by these States. Gra- 
dually, however, a party sprang into existence which 
advocated a consolidated general government, and 
desired to see this centralised at the expense of 
State- sovereignty. State-rights. Short-lived as was 
this party, the Federalists^ it succeeded in arousing 
the fears of the States, lest the Federal Government 
should assume powers not belonging to it. The 
result was that about six months after the Constitu- 
tion had gone into operation, this reservation of 
non -delegated powers was expressly declared in 
Amendment X. to the Constitution.* 

* Ininiediately after the meeting of the first Congress, the amend- 
ments to the Constitution were passed with the following preamble : — 



FRAMERS OF THE CONSTITUTION. 17 

Upon consideration it appears that the intention 
in forming the constitution, was not to make an 
organic change in the nature of the Federal Govern- 
ment. It was to alter and revise the ' Articles of 
Confederations ' that the delegates assembled in 
Congress at Philadelphia. To revivify and give 
efficacy to the existing conditions of Union, rather 
than to make new ones, was the object of the consti- 
tution. 

Without doubt, the best exponents of the consti- 
tution were its framers; for the intention of the 
law-giver is the law, as we know from the universal 
maxims of jurisprudence. None among these is 
entitled to as much respect as James Madison. At 
the time when it was proposed to ratify the constitu- 
tion, a series of essays were published by the most 
eminent statesmen of the time to ensure this result. 
In these we have happily the opinions of those very 
men, whose energy and ability produced the consti- 
tution. Perhaps nothing contributed more to the 
adoption of the constitution than the writings of 
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, which we now possess 
in the 'Federalist.' Here we have the opinions of 

' The Conventions of a number of States having, at the time of their 
adopting the constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent mis- 
construction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and 
restrictive clauses should be added ; and as extending the ground of 
public confidence in the government will best insure the beneficent 
ends of its institutions, therefore, Kesolved, &c.' 

C 



18 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

both parties of that period, all agreeing in regard to 
the nature of the Federal Government under the 
constitution. 

By reference to the recorded opinions of Madison,* 
a clear and unprejudiced view of this question may 
be obtained. In explaining the nature of the Federal 
Government, he says : — 

' The proposed constitution, therefore, when tested 
by the rules laid down by its antagonists, is, in strict- 
ness, neither a national nor a Federal constitution, 
but a composition of both. In its foundation it is 
Federal, not national ; in the sources from which the 
ordinary powers of government are drawn, it is 
partly Federal and partly national; in the operation 
of these powers, it is national not Federal; in the 
extent of them, again, it is Federal not national ; and, 
finally, in the authoritative mode of introducing 
amendments, it is neither wholly Federal nor wholly 
national.' 

As to its foundation, Madison lucidly demonstrates 
that the constitution is Federal. He remarks : — 

' On examining the first relation, it appears on one 
hand that the constitution is to be founded on the 
assent and ratification of the people of America, given 
by deputies elected for the special purpose ; but, on 
the other hand, that this assent and ratification is to 
be given by the people, not as individuals composing 
* Federalist, No. xxxix. 



THE CONSTITUTION EXPLAINED. 19 

one entire nation, but as composing the distinct and 
independent States to which they respectively belong. 
It is to be the assent and ratification, of the several 
States derived from the supreme authority in each 
State, the authority of the people themselves. The 
act, therefore, establishing the constitution, will not be 
a national but a Federal act.' 

In support of this Madison urges further, that ' it is 
to result neither from a decision of a majority of the 
people of the Union, nor from that of a majority of the 
States ; it must result from the unaiiimous assent of 
the several States that are parties to it, differing in 
no otherwise from their ordinary assent than in its 
being expressed, not by the legislative authorit}^, but 
that of the people themselves.' But we know that 
according to the American theory of self-government, 
as enunciated in the Declaration of Independence, ' the 
right of the people to alter or abolish ' any form of 
government, ^ and to institute a new government,' is 
asserted to be incontestable. Now we have the 
explicit declaration of Madison to the effect, that 
the assent given to the constitution differed in nowise 
from the ordinary assent than in the manner of its 
expression by the people directly through a convention. 
Hence we deduce that, in assenting to the constitu- 
tion, the States did no act prejudicial to this right to 
withdraw their consent whenever it should be deemed 
expedient. 

c2 



20 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Nevertheless, the ' Father of the Constitution ' does 
not desert us here. He informs us that : 

* Each State in ratifying the constitution is 
considered as a sovereign body independent of all 
others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary 
act. In this relation then the new constitution Avill, 
if established, be a Federal and not a national con- 
stitution.' 

With regard to the 'sources from which the 
ordinary powers of government are to be derived,' 
Madison describes the constitution as a complex. 
For he continues : 

'The House of Representatives will derive its powers 
from the people of America, and the people \vill be 
represented in the same proportion and on the same 
principle as they are in the legislature of a particular 
State.' Whilst the ' Senate, on the other hand, would 
derive its powers from the States, as political and co- 
equal sovereignties ; and these will be represented on 
the principle of equality in the Senate, as they now 
are in the existing Congress.' The election of the 
President is also complex. ' From this aspect of the 
government, it appears to be of a mixed character, 
presenting at least as many Federal as national 
features.' 

The operation of the powers of the constitution is 
' national,' says Madison, ' though perhaps not so com- 
pletely as has been understood. In several cases, 



THE CONSTITUTION EXPLAINED. 21 

and particularly in the trial of controversies to which 
the States may be parties, they must be viewed and 
proceeded against in their collective or political 
capacities only.' 

Unquestionably reference is here made to the way 
of acting upon individuals in a State directly by the 
Federal Government. This, as we have seen, does 
not, however, impair the sovereignty of the States in 
the least. 

Madison proceeds as follows : 

'But if the government be national with regard 
to the operation of its powers, it changes its aspect 
again when we contemplate it in relation to the 
extent of its powers. The idea of a national govern- 
ment involves in itself not only an authority over 
the individual citizens, but an indefinite supremacy 
over all persons and things, so far as they are objects 
of lawful government. Among a people consolidated 
into one nation this supremacy is completely vested 
in the national legislature. Among communities 
united for particular purposes, it is vested partly in 
the general and partly in the municipal legislatuT'es, 
In the former case, all local authorities are sub- 
ordinate to the supreme; and may be controuled, 
directed, or abolished by it at pleasure. In the latter, 
the local or municipal authorities form distinct and 
independent portions of the supremacy, no more 
subject, within their respective spheres, to the general 



22 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

authority, than the general authority is subject to 
them within its own sphere. In this relation, then, 
the proposed government can not be a national one, 
since its jurisdiction extends to certain enumerated 
objects only, and leaves to the States a residuary 
and inviolable sovereignty over all other objects.' 

Here we have the essence of the whole matter. 
Supremacy is a necessity of a national government, 
and this supremacy is founded upon sovereignty. 
One cannot exist without the other. The Federal 
Government, as it is seen, possesses neither of them ; 
its jurisdiction is limited to ' certain enumerated 
objects only,' and does not at all infringe the 
sovereignty of the individual States, which is 
inviolable. 

Amendments to the constitution are said by 
Madison to be both Federal and national, because of 
the number of State votes necessary to ratify and 
make an amendment a part of the constitution. 
Not the unanimous ratification of all the States, but 
only that of three-fourths, at that time ten, Avas 
required, and hence it appeared as though the 
adoption of an amendment had somewhat the 
charact(?r of a national act. This is, however, only 
apparent, not real. For in agreeing to the constitu- 
tion unanimously, the State agreed to this rule of 
action for the future. They bound themselves 
voluntarily to be governed in a certain event by the 



FEDERAL NATURE OF THE CONSTITUTION. 23 

decision of three-fourtlis of their number, just in the 
same manner as they agreed, in Sect. V. of Art. 1 of 
the Constitution, that 'a majority of each (House) 
shall constitute a quorum to do business.' Here, 
however, the matter is decided by votes of States, not 
of a majority of three-fourths of the people. In a 
word, this provision of the constitution in nowise 
lessened the sovereignty of the States. 

Summing up these considerations, it appears that 
in the two most vital points of the Federal constitu^ 
tion, \t^ foundation and the extent of its powers, it is 
purely Federal, having no characteristics of nationality 
whatever. That in two other respects, less important 
in themselves, in the sources of the ordinary powers 
of government, and the operation of these powers, 
there is a mixture of both, though the Federal 
features predominate largely in the former, on account 
of the Senate. That with regard to amendments, the 
constitution is only apparently national, but in truth 
Federal, and not at all derogatory of the sovereignty 
of the States. 

This testimony of Madison is sufficient to remove 
every doubt as to the nature of the Union, and to 
establish conclusively the principle of State sove- 
reignty. 

But in the fact that even after the ratification of 
the constitution by the unanimous votes of all the 
States, it was indispensable to obtain the ratification 



2^ THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

of amendments to the constitution from the States in 
their sovereign capacity, and not from the inhabitants 
at large, we perceive the continued existence of the 
sovereignty of the individual States. Two years after 
the constitution had been confirmed by all of the 
States, twelve amendments were proposed in the pre- 
scribed maimer, but only ten of them having been 
confirmed by the States, these only became integral 
parts of the constitution. Furthermore, these ten 
amendments were restrictions of the powers of the 
Federal Government^ or supplementary means of pro- 
tection for the rights of the States, or of individuals, 
and evinced the characteristic political jealousy towards 
the Federal Government — a striking proof for the refu- 
tation of the arguments of those who assert, that by 
adoj)ting a new constitution the thirteen original 
States made a surrender of their sovereignty to the 
Federal Government. 

In Art. X. of the Amendments to the Constitution, 
we read furthermore : ' TJie powers not delegated to the 
United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to 
the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to 
the people.^ From this it follows, as before intimated, 
that here, as well as under the ' Articles of Confede- 
ration,' the United States possessed no powers but 
such as were delegated by the States. 

Some partisans of the Union have asserted that, by 
the expression ' or to the people^ the idea is to be 



STATE SOVEREIGNTY NEVER SURRENDERED. 25 

conveyed that the inhabitants of the United States 
constituted politically one sovereign people. For this 
assumption there is not the slightest foundation in 
fact. Evidently, reference is here made to the two 
ways in which a State may exercise its functions of 
sovereignty. The one through the legislature, here 
termed the ' State,' the other by the voice of a ' State 
convention,' designated above as ' the people.' Were 
further proof that the citizens of the several States, 
taken in their totality, never have constituted one 
people in the history of America, necessary, we should 
refer again to the unequivocal declarations of Madison, 
to the effect that — 'The assent and ratification of the 
j)eople of America was given to the constitution, 
not as individuals comprising one entire nation, but as 
composing the distinct and independent States to which 
they respectively belong.^ By referring to a similar 
clause in the constitution of the Confederate States, 
we find this idea fully expressed as follows : — 

Art. VI. No. G. ' The powers not delegated to 
the Confederate States by the constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the 
States respectively, or to the p)^ople thereof.'' 

In face of all that has been stated, it maybe that still 
other evidence of the sovereignty of the States may be 
demanded. If so, we refer to the history of those 
times, and to the debates in the Convention which 
framed the constitution, as also to the press of that 



26 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

period. Whoever reads the debates in the Convention 
and in the Congress of 1787 must be impressed with 
the oft-recurring threats of dissolution of the Union, 
a circumstance which attracted little notice at that 
time, because no doubt whatever was entertained by 
anyone of the strictly constitutional right of a State 
to recall its delegated authority. 

Even at this period some few statesmen were found 
who were desirous of circumscribing the sovereignty of 
the individual States, and of constituting a consolidated 
national government. Prominent amongst these were 
King of Massachusetts, Wilson of Pennsylvania, and 
Alexander Hamilton. Wilson and his colleagues 
advocated a representation of the States in the 
Senate, as well as in the House of Representatives, 
upon the basis of population exclusively; their 
proposal in the Convention was lost by a large 
majority of voices. And it was decided to the 
contrary that each State, without reference to extent 
or population, should send an equal number of 
representatives to the United States Senate. A proof 
that the interests of each individual State, represented 
in a union of States, should enjoy a perfect equality in 
its relations to the whole, and that consequently the 
individuality of each State, even in affairs entrusted 
to the administration of Congress, must be considered 
as existing unimpaired. Tliis individuality has its 
origin and foundation in the sovereignty of the 



ARGUMENTS AGAINST STATE SOVEREIGNTY. 27 

individual States, and can exist only so long as the 
sovereignty is complete. In accordance with this pro- 
vision of the constitution, Delaware, with a population 
of 112,218 souls, has two votes in the United States 
Senate, whereas New York, with 3,887,542 inhabitants, 
is only entitled to the same number of votes in that 
branch of Congress. In this case, as on all occasions 
where it has been found necessary to decide between 
consolidation and State sovereignty, the latter has 
triumphed by forcing population into the background. 
It is well kno-^qi with what warmth the advocates 
of the Union in the Northern States have pressed 
everything approaching to an argument, to show their 
enmity to the doctrine of State rights. Aiinong the 
principal grounds of their objections is the supposi- 
tion, that a Federal Government based upon the prin- 
ciple of State sovereignty, as claimed by the Southern 
States, would be preposterous, irreconcilable with 
the notion of a durable government, and would contain 
the seeds of its Own destruction within itself. Before 
questioning the claims of this species of argument 
to consideration, we desire to correct an error into 
which the feelino;s or inclinations of some men not 
unfrequently lead them. Obviously, it is altogether 
foreign to the question to state that a given condition 
of things never could have existed, because such a 
state of things is in opposition to our own convictions 
or notions of what is best at the present mpment. In 



28 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

examining the bearings of the question of State sove- 
reignty, and the application of this notion to the con- 
struction of the Federal Government in the constitu- 
tion, it is absolutely necessary to restrict our enquiries 
to facts. Whether or not this principle, when applied 
to the organization of government, is, in itself, and 
abstractly, pernicious, is something Avith which we 
are here in no way concerned. But we must endeavour 
to decide this political problem: Was the idea of 
State sovereignty the fundamental principle upon 
which the Union was constructed? Did this continue 
to be that principle which imparted to the constitu- 
tion the moral and political force that bound the 
States together up to the dissolution of the Union? 
Both of these interrogatories must, as we have tried to 
demonstrate, be answered affirmatively. This con- 
ceded, men may amuse or perplex themselves as much 
as they like by devising universal theories of govern- 
ment, and though they should divest their ideas of all 
reality in pursuit of their abstractions, it will not 
affect the weight attaching to the opinions of such 
men as the framers of the constitution. But before 
leaving this subject altogether, one thought suggests 
itself. It was proposed to form a government of the 
thirteen States for their common defence. Each State 
was sovereign. No community of interests existed 
between many of them, except that resulting from 
their weakness in the presence of a common danger. 



ARGUMENTS AGAIXST STATE SOVEREIGNTY. 29 

Was it, then, to be expected, that these States differing 
so widely from each other would ever voluntarily have 
surrendered their most cherished rights, and have 
consolidated themselves into one central government, 
in which the bonds of Union would have been more 
galling because compidsory? Was it not rather an 
evidence of wise foresight on the part of the framers 
of the constitution, to liave constructed the Union on 
the recognised principle of consent? Evidently it 
was believed that in leaving each State free to with- 
draw from the Union at pleasure, the States would be 
induced to make greater concessions to each other for 
the sake of preserving the Union and its benefits, and 
that in this way a stronger feeling of respect would be 
engendered, and a greater sense of justice and fairness 
would influence the States in their relations to each 
other. Above all, however, there was one excellency 
in this system of government. It provided for a 
peaceful separation of the States, whenever expe- 
rience should demonstrate the continuance of the 
Union to be no longer desirable, or possible. How 
wise it would have been, had their descendants have 
executed the intentions of the authors of the consti- 
tution. 

Another argument often advanced to show the 
inexpediency or absurdity of State sovereignty is the 
following : Were the right of a State to secede from 
the Union allowed, the right of a county to secede 



30 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

from a State could not be denied. Much trouble 
has been taken to deceive the people of Europe by 
means of this fallacy. And we are sorry to confess 
that it has not been ineffectual in deceiving quite a 
number. No plausibility, however, atttaches to 
this fallacy. It is well known that these counties 
are only sub-divisions of the State territory and 
population, existing for the more convenient adminis- 
tration of the laws. At pleasure the legislatures may, 
and constantly do, change, unite or divide such 
counties, or even merge them entirely into others. 
These territorial divisions of a State have no political 
existence or individuality whatever, and have no 
historical foundation at all, upon which to base a 
pretension to any of the rights of an independent, 
sovereign community. Besides, who has ever heard 
of such a claim being advanced by a county in any of 
the States? It is simply absurd to institute such a 
comparison between the States and the counties 
thereof. 

Others, again, maintain that the sovereignty of the 
individual States is only a /mzV^<i sovereignty. This 
assumption is devoid of even the shadow of reason. 
For sovereignty resides in the people of each State; 
it is indivisible and incapable of restriction. And 
the source of the riglits of sovereignty which are 
inherent in the people of the States, and inviolable, 
remained unimpaired by the delegation of the exercise 



POWERS OF THE UNION DELEGATED. 31 

of certain 'powers to the Union. Moreover, this 
delegation^ which, as already stated, was accompanied 
by no renunciation of the right of retraction^ could not 
under any circumstances signify more than the legal 
relation of a principal to his agent. On this point the 
testimony of Madison, already cited, is conclusive, 
and no other evidence is required to refute this 
objection. 

Turnins; to the terms of recoo:nition of tlie United 
States after the war of independence, on the part of 
Great Britain, the most explicit acknowledgement is 
made of the ' free, sovereign, and independent States,' 
the original thirteen being enumerated. France and 
the other European States, as well as Great Britain, 
all made treaties with the thirteen States in their 
individual sovereign capacity, in all of which treaties 
the States are designated by name. 

From all that has been stated we now conclude that 
the Union possessed only the exercise of those powers 
which were expressly delegated to it ; that the 
political individuality (sovereignty) remained intact 
to the separate States; that the States could have 
lost their sovereignty only by express surrender and 
abandonment of it : and that an express renunciation 
of the right to separate from the Union would in all 
cases have been necessary, in order to deprive the 
States of this inherent, natural right. 

No one has ever denied that it was the desire and 



32 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPEXDENCE. 

intention of the framers of the constitution to render 
the Union as durable as possible ; but this desire had 
its foundation most certainly in the objects for which 
the Union was formed — ' to establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, 
promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings 
of liberty.' The Union was not its own object. In 
a word, the Union was intended to be the means of 
securing the objects above enumerated, and not to be 
the purpose of its own existence. 

In recent times several States have seen fit to with- 
draw the delegation made to the Union of the 
exercise of certain powers, convinced that not the 
promotion of their welfare, but their injury, resulted 
from the policy pursued by the Union. In doing 
this, they did only what every constituent is com- 
petent to do. They withdrew a mandate Avhicli in 
public law, as in the civil law, is a contract that can 
exist only so long as the consent is mutual. And so 
they dissolved with full authority a league which had 
existed up to that time. By this act they did not 
repudiate the liabilities incurred by the whole, during 
their participation in the league, which they were 
still bound to fulfill according to the well-known 
rules of law respecting contracts between principal 
and agent. This they declared themselves ready to 
do, immediately upon their secession from the 
Union. 



SECESSION A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. 33 

Advocates of tlie doctrine of secession, as an in- 
contestable constitutional riglit, have not been con- 
fined to the Southern States. Ever since the estab- 
lishment of the Union this right has been admitted 
by the great majority of the people in every State. 
Statesmen, politicians, and jurists have alike pro- 
claimed secession to be a right under the' constitu- 
tion. It is only in recent times, since the ' Republi- 
can Party ' which elected Mr. Lincoln has come into 
power, and since the withdrawal of the Southern 
States from the Union, that the right of secession 
has been questioned. 

AVilliam Rawle, an authority of eminence, and at 
one time Attorney- General of the State of Pennsyl- 
vania, has left us his views upon the constitutionality 
of secession recorded in a work on the constitution. 
He remarks : * 

' If a faction should attempt to subvert the govern- 
ment of a State for the purpose of destroying its 
Republican form, the paternal power of the Union 
could thus be called forth to subdue it. Yet it is not 
to be understood that its interposition would be 
justifiable, if the people of a State should determine 
to retire from the Union, whether they adopted 
another or retained the same form of government, or 
if they should, with the express intention of seceding, 

* A View of the Constitution of the United States of America. By 
William Kawle, Philadelphia, 1825, p. 289. 

D 



34 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

expunge the representative system from their code, 
and thereby incapacitate themselves from concurring, 
according to the mode now prescribed, in the choice 
of certain public officers of the United States. 
It depends on the State itself to retain or abolish the 
principle of representation, because it depends on 
itself whether it mil continue a member of tlie 
Union. To deny this right would be inconsistent 
with the principle on which all our political systems 
are founded, which is, that the people have in all 
cases a right to determine how they will be governed.' 

The same authority continues : * 

' If the majority of the people of a State de- 
liberately and peaceably resolve to relinquisli the 
Republican form of government, they cease to be 
members of the Union. If a faction, an inferior 
number, make such an effort and endeavour to 
enforce it by violence, the case provided for will have 
arisen, and the Union is bound to employ its powers 
to prevent it.' 

Without stopping to enquire whether a faction 
may not consist of a majority of the people of a 
State, it is obvious that the authority of Rawle over- 
throws the assertions of those who contend that the 
Union, having been formed by the unanimous consent 
of all the States, can only be dissolved by the 
imanimous consent of tlie same. But this argument 

* William Rawle, loco citato, p. 292. 



SECESSION A CONSTITUTIONAL EIGHT. 35 

bears its contradiction on its own face. If it is true 
that the States did unanimously assent to the consti- 
tution, it is not the less certain that each State gave 
its adherence without reference to the others, and 
that, had the number of assenting States not ex- 
ceeded nine, the Union would have existed for this 
number. And by the same process of reasoning it 
would appear that, should one or more States retire 
from the Union, their action would not affect the 
union of the other States, but the union would be 
dissolved only between the seceding State or States 
and the rest, not, however, between all the States. 
The action of any one State could in this case be 
binding only on itself. On this point Rawle is quite 
clear.* 

' Secessions may reduce the number to the smallest 
integer admitting combination. They would remain 
united under the same principles and regulations 
among themselves that now apply to the whole. For 
a State cannot be compelled by other States to "with- 
draw from the Union ; and therefore, if two or more 
determine to remain united, although all the others 
desert them, nothing can be discovered in the con- 
stitution to prevent it.' 

The same statesman observes at another place : f 
' The secession of a State from the Union depends 
on the will of the people of such State. The people 

* William Rawle, 1. c. p. 299. t Ibid. p. 295. 

D 2 



36 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

alone, as we have already seen, hold the power to 
alter their constitution.' 

In confirmation of our statement, that the right of 
secession was generally admitted, we shall quote 
again the words of the Attorney- General of Pennsyl- 
vania. He says : * 

' It was foreseen that there would be a natural 
tendency to increase the number of States with the 
anticipated increase of population, now so fully 
verified. It was also known, though it was not 
avowed, that a State might withdraw itself.' 

No doubt now remainins;' as to the constitutional 
right of a State to separate from the Union, it remains 
to be seen how this separation may be efi'ected. Un- 
questionably, the action terminating the connection 
of a State with the Union must be the action of the 
people of that State. In assenting to the constitution, 
a convention in each State, specially chosen by the 
people directly for that purpose, gave expression to the 
will of the people. The action of such a convention 
is binding, even above the laws of the State ; for it has 
the highest sanctity of law possible, being the direct 
expression of the sovereign will of the people. Such 
action is final, and admits of no appeal. And if the 
resolution of a convention so constituted was suffi- 
cient for assenting to the constitution, it follows that 
a convention would be the proper organ through 

* William Rawle, 1. c. p. 297. 



ORDINANCES OF SECESSION. 37 

which the people should express their determination 
of withdrawing their assent to the constitution. Once 
more let us see what Rawle says on this subject : * 

' But in any manner by which a secession is to take 
place, nothing is more certain than that the act should 
be deliberate, clear, unequivocal. The perspicuity and 
solemnity of tlie original obligation require corre- 
spondent qualities in its dissolution. The powers of 
the General Government cannot be defeated or im- 
paired by an ambiguous or implied secession on the 
part of the State, although a secession may perhaps 
be conditional.' 

By reference to the ordinances of secession of 
those States at present constituting the Confederate 
States, it will be seen that, so far from there having 
been less solemnity in the acts of their conventions, 
there was perhajDS more than at the time of the adop- 
tion of the constitution. The formalities observed 
were not less striking, and the acts were not hasty, 
but the calm expression of the decided will of the 
people of these States. From this side, then, no ob- 
jections can be urged against the constitutional 
validity of the secession of the Southern States. 

And now, turning to the past, we shall see that 
steps had been taken as early as 1815, preliminary to 
secession on the part of five of the New England 
States, Maine forming the exception. The action of 

* William Rawle, I. c. p. 296. 



38 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

the Hartford Convention is proof of this allegation. 
For, although the proceedings of that body were to a 
great extent kept secret, it is now known that a re- 
solution was passed to the effect that no further con- 
tributions of means for carrying on the war with 
Great Britain should be allowed by these States, and 
that no further contingents in troops should be sent 
beyond their borders. At the same time a demand 
was ordered to be made upon the General Government 
to put an end to the war, or, that failing, a secession 
was to be intimated as the eventual consequence. 

For the rest, that State, which is now so loud in 
its denunciations of the secession of the Southern 
States, because its own material interests are at stake 
— I mean Massachusetts — was the most disloyal of 
the five New England States in 1815, and was the first 
which sent commissioners to the Federal Government 
at Washington to enforce the measures recommended 
by the Hartford Convention. Moreover, on two 
other occasions has this same State threatened to 
secede from the Union. We refer to the action of 
Massachusetts on the admission of Louisiana into the 
Union and on the annexation of Texas. 

Is it not, then, an indication of the weakness of the 
cause of the opposite party to stigmatise as revolu- 
tion, rebellion, or ti'cason, that which others demon- 
strate to be a sacred constitutional right, especially 
when no evidence whatever has been adduced to 
invalidate the claim to this right ? 



CAUSES OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNIOX. 39 



CHAPTER 11. 

CAUSES OF THE DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 

I. Social Causes. 

In the previous chapter we have endeavoured to show 
from the early history of the colonies that the prin- 
ciple of State sovereignty was the fundamental notion 
upon which the Union was based. 

To discover the first causes of the dissolution of 
the Union, it is necessary to go back still farther, to 
the history of the colonists before their emigration to 
America. 

The first permanent settlement in America was 
that made in Virginia under a Royal Charter. As 
early as the year 1619, we find a legislative assembly 
existing there, which was formed after the model of 
the English Parliament. The King was represented 
by the Governor, the House of Lords by the council 
of the Governor, and the House of Commons by the 
House of Burgesses.* Accordingly Virginia was, in the 
strictest sense, a royal province, colonised by subjects 

* Tucker, vol. i. p. 24. 



40 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

of the English Crown, who evinced their attachment 
to the political institutions of the mother-country and 
their loyalty to the Crown by the organisation of 
their colonial Government and the adoption of the 
Anglican Church. Herein is a striking proof ex- 
hibited that the settlers of Virginia belonged to the 
Conservative party of England. Not the less true is 
it that they were among the most devoted adherents 
of royalty and the most steadfast friends of Charles I., 
who was executed in the course of the civil war. 

When Cromwell became successful in England, a 
large number of the noblest cavaliers of Charles I. 
fled to Virginia. By the accession of these cavaliers, 
the population of the existing colony of Virginia 
was considerably increased. And it is well known 
that most of the Southern States were peopled by 
emigration from Virginia, and not by direct emigra- 
tion from Europe. A congenial population Avas then 
already present in America to receive the Huguenots 
on their arrival. Such was the origin of the popula- 
tion of the Southern States. 

Between 1605 and 1610, a religious sect left its 
English home, self-exiled, to seek in Holland religious 
freedom, and to escape persecution on account of 
its religious creed. In the year 1620, about one 
hundred of this religious sect, the Puritans^ embark- 
ing at Leyden in Holland, landed in America on the 
inhospitable shores of Plymouth. These persons were 



THE CAVALIERS AND PURITANS. 41 

mere adventurers, who had no right to the soil, much 
less a charter authorising them to organise a govern- 
ment. Nevertheless they obtained afterwards a grant 
of land from the already existing colony of Plymouth, 
which was in possession of a Royal Charter, and in 
this way they established themselves in New England. 
From these Puritans the population of New England 
is almost exclusively descended. 

The zeal displayed by the colonists of Virginia in 
support of the royal cause during the civil war in 
England formed a strong contrast to the behaviour of 
the New England colonies. The presence of the 
cavaliers in Virginia contributed to strengthen the 
loyalty of the colonists there towards the Crown. And 
they remained so unshaken in their fidelity to the 
son of Charles L, whom they acknowledged as their 
king during the vicissitudes of his misfortune, that a 
force had to be sent out from England to reduce them 
to submission. On the other hand, the Puritans had 
espoused the cause of Cromwell with warmth from 
the beginning, finding a double incentive thereto in 
their hatred of the cavaliers and of the Established 
Church. It was in this way that the same dissensions, 
which long before had exercised their baneful influ- 
ence in the Old World, came to be propagated in the 
New. In America a new sphere of action was thus 
presented for these enmities. The Puritans, who, by 
reason of the distance which separated them from 



42 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

England, had nothing to fear, were enabled to display 
more energy in the promulgation of their doctrines, 
whereas the cavaliers, deserted by the English Govern- 
ment, were compelled to advocate their conservative 
tendency unsupported. 

It is remarkable that the Puritans, who had fled 
from religious persecutions, soon became in America 
the most cruel persecutors of religious freedom and 
the most relentless bigots, whilst the Catholics, who 
had come with Lord Baltimore to Marvland under 
the same circumstances, were the first upon the 
American continent to distinguish themselves by the 
most decided tolerance of all religious creeds. ' While 
the recollection of former persecutions induced the 
Catholics in Maryland, the Baptists in Rhode Island, 
and the Quakers in Pennsylvania, to grant freedom 
of conscience to others, in ]\lassachusetts, under 
similar circumstances, fanaticism overpowered the 
sense of justice.' * The same historian who relates this, 
describes the Puritans most admirably as follows: — 
' But in truth fellow-feeling for the suffering from 
persecution could avail little against the fanatical 
bigotry of the Puritans, which infatuation, confound- 
ing all moral distinctions, regards the most savage 
cruelty as innocent, and converts lenity and modera- 
tion into crime.' f 

Fanaticism in New England did not restrict itself 

* Tucker, vol. i. p. 34. t Il^iJ- 



FANATICISM OF THE PURITANS. 43 

to the persecution of Dissenters. A frequent oc- 
casion for persecution was presented by the delu- 
sion of witchcraft,* the first criminal prosecutions 
for which took place in 1645, in Massachusetts, 
where four persons were executed on this charge. f 
Nearly half a century later, in the year 1690, this 
delusion had only reached its culmination. J These 
facts, taken from history, are cited to show the 
character and tendency of Puritanism in America. 
But nothing more characteristic of the spirit of that 
puritanical fanaticism can be found than the 'blue 
laws,' whose home was New England. One of these 
declared it to be a crime for a mother to kiss her babe 
on a Sunday. 

Althoufrh these laws are no lono-er in force in New 
England, still the spirit which produced them is at 
present more rabid than at any previous time. And 
more than ever are the hothouses and sanctuaries of 
deluded fanaticism to be found at the firesides of New 
England homes. The immoral and repulsive 
doctrines of Free Love^ Spirit-rapping^ and Woman^s 
Rights^ owe to Christian New England their ' divine ' 
origin. 

This puritanical fanaticism has in the present time 

* Grahame, Colonial History, vol. iii. 

f Hildretb, History of the United States of America, vol. ii. pp. 
145-167. 

X Tucker, vol. i. p. 36. 



44 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

selected as tlie most fruitful sphere of its zealous 
activity the province of politics. 

A natural consequence of this religious and political 
fanaticism is the inextinguishable hatred between the 
descendants of the Puritans, the people of New 
England, and those of the cavaliers in the South, 
which now appears to have reached its zenith. 

This antagonism is not limited to the people of the 
two sections. North and South, as entire communities, 
but extends to the individuals of each section ; for 
the influence of different origin, the essentially 
different social and political institutions, and the 
diversity of education, have rendered individual 
character in New England and that in the Southern 
States irreconcilably opposite. 

No one at all familiar with the state of affairs in 
America can fail to be impressed by the deeply-rooted 
hate of New Englanders towards the Southerners, 
whether or not it is to be attributed to the origin, 
refinement, or accomplishments of the latter. And, 
whereas the former are accustomed to regard the 
Southerners with undisguised pride, these evince 
always an unlimited contempt for them, on account 
of their sordid worship of the dollar ; it is, therefore, 
not strange that the appellation of Yankee should be 
considered in the South as synonymous with whatever 
is selfish and little. 

Between these two people the antipathy is so great 



ECONOMIC CAUSES OF DISSOLUTION. 45 

that there appears to be no possibility of ever eradi- 
cating it. The developements of this war have made 
it more appreciable than ever, showing that these two 
people have nothing in common but the language, that 
they are not adapted to eacli other, and that therefore 
they cannot continue to live united in peace any 
longer. 

Not enough importance has ever been attached to 
this fact, which has been one of the most potent 
influences that have caused the Union to be impos- 
sible. 



II. Economic Causes. 

Foreign commerce has ever been a fruitful source 
of bitter dissension and jealousy between the North 
and the South. Even before the adoption of the 
'Articles of Confederation,' as well as before, and 
at the time of the ratification of the ' Constitution,' 
unmistakeable evidences of future troubles on this 
account among the States of both sections became 
manifest. In this quarter may be discovered one of 
the causes of the repeated acts of injustice on the part 
of the North towards the South. 

It is well known that the North was physically 
more favoured in natural harbours, and consequently 
its people devoted themselves to commerce on the 
seas. And finding this a source of great wealth, the 



46 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

North has employed every means at its disposal to 
encourage its shipping interest. Endeavouring to 
obtain special facilities for this purpose, the North 
has been utterly regardless of the interests of the 
other States, seeking only its own aggrandisement. 
Hence we find that in the making of all treaties of 
commerce, in the framing of navigation laws, in the 
introduction of tonnage duties, and particularly in 
arranging the regulations for the fisheries, the North 
has never failed to secure its purpose, often to the 
decided disadvantage or even injury of the South. 
Indeed it is notorious that on several occasions the 
North has been upon the point of involving the whole 
country in a war with England, solely in its fishing 
interest. With every facility at its disposal and every 
advantage on its side, the North also soon came to 
be the factors and carriers of the South, and all the 
coasting trade, being in its o"Wii hands, was carried 
on in its own ships. 

On the other hand the South, not so well situated 
for becoming a maritime country, particularly on 
account of the want of such excellent harbours, found 
it advantageous not to become a shipping community, 
but rather to devote its energies to the cultivation of 
the soil. The North, not possessing such a produc- 
tive soil as the South, turned its attention also to in- 
dustrial pursuits. iVnd so the North has finally 
attained such a point of excellence in them, that it is 



TARIFF AXD POLICY OF PROTECTION. 47 

now only second to England in the manufacture of 
cotton, whilst its iron manufactures have become 
very considerable. An impetus having been given 
to manufactures in the North by the war of 1812 
with England, afterwards protection was sought for 
the interests which had thus become eno:ao'ed in 
them. Still, the plea put forward was the necessity 
of a revenue for carrying on the government. True 
to this policy the North, particularly New England, 
has ever since exerted itself to make the Federal 
debt as heavy as possible, in order to increase the 
duties on imports ; for it had been found that the 
duties already imposed were far more than sufficient 
to defray the expenses of the government. Now 
with the immense difference in capital, population, 
and ships, in favour of Europe, it is evident that the 
infant manufactures of New England never could 
have succeeded, had it been necessary to compete 
with the old world in the home markets. Conse- 
quently a moderate protection was at first asked and 
srranted; but with this assistance from the Federal 
Government, the demands of the North became more 
exorbitant, till finally the South openly resisted 
these encroachments. The history of the legislation 
of Congress in favour of protection shows a series 
of acts, each more unreasonable than the former, 
tending to exclude the non-manufacturing States of 
the Union from all direct trade with Europe. 



48 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Naturally the South, bemg the producer of only the 
raw material, wished to exchange its productions for 
manufactures in whatever markets aiForded the 
greatest advantages. It is also obvious that Europe 
offered more advantages, for reasons already stated, 
than the North. In consequence of the protection 
given to Northern manufactures, competition with 
Europe was finally almost abolished, and by this 
means the North enabled to grow rich at the expense 
of the South. The South became ihe forced customer 
of the North, and the Southerner was compelled to 
let his money flow into the pockets of the Northerner, 
who in return furnished commodities of a quality 
inferior to those which mio'lit have been obtained at 
a vastly lower price, had the Southerner been at 
liberty to import them from Europe. In this way 
the trade of the South has built up the wealth of the 
North, enriched its cities, and given employment to 
its poor classes. For the results of protection were 
not favourable to the States as a whole, nor to the 
general government. The advantages resulting from 
it accrued solely to the population of the North. 
It has been estimated that the amount of indirect 
taxation to which the South has submitted for the 
last few years has reached 20,000,000/. annually. 
This estimation does not appear to be exaggerated. 
Thus has the South been compelled to pay tribute to 
the North, to enable the Northern manufacturer to 
compete with the European in its own markets. 



IMPORTANCE OF THE SOUTH TO THE NORTH. 49 

If it is true that the South, while it remained in the 
Union, had always been a source of wealth for the 
North, it will follow that the secession of the South 
from the Union must have an important effect upon 
the prosperity of the North. No further proof is 
needed to establish this proposition, as we have 
already shown the value of the South to the North 
before the separation. It is, however, worthy of 
mention, that the statements made in New York to 
the effect that the prosperity of the North has in- 
creased since the commencement of the war, are 
devoid of all foundation in truth. For the fact that 
foreign imports have decreased, whilst the exports of 
the North have increased, proves the contrary. This 
results from the circumstance that, in consequence of 
the secession of the South, the North has ceased to 
supply the South both with its own and foreign com- 
modities. Naturally, then, the imports must have de- 
creased, whilst the tendency of the exports was to in- 
crease, for the North found it necessary to send abroad 
what it formerly sent to the South, whether or not with 
less advantageous results we do not propose to discuss. 

Such attempts on the part of Northern men to 
employ weak evidence in support of their assertions, 
Avhen the contrary is manifest, as well as the loud 
and passionate denunciations of the so-called treason 
of the Southern States, tend to produce the thorough 
conviction that the North rightly fears the most 



50 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

fatal results from a permanent separation from 
the South. 

Everyone is aware, however, that the tariff is a 
question which has been limited neither to the past 
nor to the present, but that from the commencement 
of the existence of the Union clown to the moment of 
its dissolution, it has been a constant cause of strife. 
As long ago as 1832, when South Carolina pro- 
claimed the tariff laws unconstitutional, this subject 
had already obtained an importance that could not 
be concealed. But for the last thirty years, the bit- 
terness engendered by this cause has been increasing 
in intensity, till at last the South could bear no longer 
the injustice of this system of exorbitant protection, 
which amounted almost to prohibition. In the ' plat- 
form ' of the ' Republican ' party, which elected Mr. 
Lincoln, the continuance of the policy of protection 
was announced to be desirable and indispensable; 
whereas the ' Democratic ' party, which had always 
respected the rights of the South, characterized this 
jjolicy as both unwise and pernicious. The ' Repub- 
licans' have remained true to their 2:)olitical creed, and 
have placed evidence of it on record in the notorious 
Morrill tariff-bill, that few in Europe would be in- 
clined to question. Here was the culmination of the 
efforts of the North for the last half century, against 
which the South had never ceased to protest and 
remonstrate, but with more energy and earnestness 
during the last thirty years. 



PROTECTION UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 51 

From this system of protection has resulted an in- 
direct taxation, which presses exclusively on the 
South. This the South considers, and has always 
considered, unconstitutional ; for such it is declared 
to be hj the provisions of the constitution [clause 1 
of the seventh section of Art. I.]. This reads as 
follows : — 

' The Congress shall have power to lay and collect 
taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts 
and provide for the common defence and general wel- 
fare of the United States-, but all duties, imposts, and 
excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
States.' 

Does not the conclusion seem inevitable on exa- 
mining the purposes for which Congress can impose 
duties, that it has no right whatever to impose 
them for the aggrandisement of any one section 
of the Union? If it is not in order 'to pay debts 
and provide for the common defence and general 
welfare,' Congress has no power to impose any duties 
whatever. How much less has it, then, the rio-ht to 
do so only for the advantage of a single section. 
Moreover, these duties must be ' uniform throughout 
the United States,' When, therefore. Congress lays 
taxes or duties that weigh almost exclusively upon 
the South, it does what it has no constitutional right 
to do, and such act is unconstitutional. 

Who will say, then, that the right is not liere again 

E 2 



52 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

all on the side of the South ? At least the South- 
erners are convinced of it, and have decided to submit 
to this spoliation no more. The worst that can be 
said is, that the Southern States have acted towards 
the encroachments of the Union, as the thirteen 
original States did towards England, when the}'' 
declared that no taxes could lawfully he imposed upon 
them without their consent. 

Because the North has tried to force these facts 
into the background, let not Europe be deceived. 
This was the great and chief cause of the secession 
of the South ; and now Europe may judge whether 
this grievance was well-founded. 



III. Political Causes. 

If, in comparison with Europe, America may be 
said to possess no history, still a period of time has 
already elapsed sufficient for the developement of 
certain political maxims in the New World, which 
have been transmitted to the present generation of its 
inhabitants with all the sanctity and veneration 
attaching to the traditionary past. These political 
principles have a double importance for them, because 
they constitute the foundation upon which their 
dearest rights are based. By a vindication of them 



WORTH OF POLITICAL MAXIMS. 53 

these rights were first secured. Among all of these 
political maxims, none is more cherished than that 
one announced in the ' Declaration of Independence/ 
and which proclaims ' that whenever any form of 
government becomes destructive of these ends (se- 
curity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness), 
it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, 
and to institute a new government, laying its founda- 
tion on such principles, and organizing its powers in 
such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect 
their safety and happiness.' 

The natural consequence of this principle, which 
obtained a real validity through the combined efforts 
of the thirteen original colonies, was to develope the 
notion of State rights; and upon this fundamental 
idea rested, as we have seen, the entire structure of 
the Union. After so many sacrifices had been made, 
and so much suffering endured to establish the so- 
vereignty of the individual States, it is self-evident 
that every attempt on the part of the Federal Go- 
vernment to violate this principle must have been 
regarded by the States as an injury not to be sub- 
mitted to. 

At an early period commenced a series of acts on 
the part of the general government, which have 
resulted in rendering the Union impossible. At one 
time we find the Federal Government asserting its 
exclusive jurisdiction over the Indian lands situated 



54 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

within the limits of certain States. This produced, 
very naturally, a feeling of resentment on the part of 
the States interested, which were Southern States, so 
that on several occasions resort was about being 
made t'o arms to defend their rights. 

For a long time the South has been aggrieved by 
the action of Congress respecting the district of 
Columbia. It is well known that this district was 
acquired from the States of Maryland and Virginia 
for the seat of the Federal Government, under the 
express conditions that no law should be made by 
Congress for the government of the district which 
might be hostile to the institutions of the above- 
named States; unless, at least, these States should 
give their express consent to the same. The Federal 
Congress has continually exerted itself to escape the 
fulfilment of these conditions. Efforts have con- 
stantly been made to abolish slavery in the district by 
direct legislation of Congress, regardless of the self- 
imposed condition not to interfere with it at all. We 
say that Congress has tried to effect this result, for 
in point of fact there never was a sufficient majority 
in Congress to accomplish it, until the separation of 
the South. But the recurring threats and attempts 
to effect it had served to irritate the South greatly, 
and to convince the Southern people that when the 
party in the North hostile to their institutions should 
obtain the supremacy in Congress, the Federal 



THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 55 

Government would not hesitate a moment to legislate 
slavery out of the district, and then, going a step 
further, would combat slavery and attempt its over- 
throw in the Southern States themselves. Yet every- 
body knows that Congress has no right to interfere 
with the internal affairs of any State, least of all about 
slavery, which was recognised by the constitution; 
for this is not among tlie powers delegated to Con- 
gress. 

When Missouri sought admission into the Union 
in 1820, having the requisite population, it was at 
first refused by the Northern vote. At last the ad- 
mission was only allowed under the condition, that 
for the future slavery should not exist in any terri- 
tory north of 36° 30'. This was a flagrant violation 
of the constitution, which does not give to Congress 
the right to refuse admission to any territory having 
the required population, provided the constitution of 
such territory be Republican. ' On that event,' says 
Rawle,* ' the inhabitants acquire a right to assemble 
and form a constitution for themselves, and the 
United States are considered as bound to admit the 
new State into the Union, provided its form of govern- 
ment be that of a representative Republic. This is, 
perhaps, the only check or control possessed by the 
United States.' 

At the time that Congress passed this unconsti- 

* William Rawle, 1. c. p. 294. 



56 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

tutional act, the Southern States protested by their 
votes against the measure, and proclaimed it to be 
unconstitutional. 

The constant efforts that had been made to exclude 
the .South from the Territories, which are the common 
property of all the States alike, aroused the indigna- 
tion of the Southern people most thoroughly. It 
will not be pretended that the rights of one State in 
the Territories were greater than those of another. 
The citizens of the Northern States were at liberty 
to take their property with them into the Territories 
and were protected in their possession of it. Why 
was it, then, that when the citizens of the Southern 
States, emigrating thither with their property in 
slaves, which were recognised as such by the consti- 
tution, claimed the same protection for their species 
of property, as that accorded to other kinds of 
personal property in the Territories, legal protection 
was denied by the Federal Government? Plainly it 
was an act of injustice and usurpation in favour of 
the North, and an attempt to exclude the South 
from all participation in the Territories. A confir- 
mation of this is to be seen in the legislation of 
Congress with respect to the public lands in the 
Territories. The lands were squandered, or sold at 
pitiably low prices, in order to attract the poor 
classes of the North, and to direct the emigration 
thither from Europe, it being known that the South 



THE TERRITORIES AND SLAVERY. 57 

could spare comparatively few of its citizens for 
populating the new Territories. With what success 
this has been carried out, let the election of Mr. 
Lincoln by the foreign vote attest. 

The interference of Congress with slavery was the 
more uncalled-for, seeing that a territory, once 
admitted, would have an unquestionable right to es- 
tablish slavery, or to abolish it, by changing its con- 
stitution accordingly. There is nothing in the con- 
stitution that prevents any Northern State from 
introducing slavery within its limits, if it should 
choose to do so. If Massachusetts should to-morrow 
discover African slavery to be the most profitable kind 
of labour for its manufactures, and if the people should 
accordingly decide upon introducing it into that State, 
there is no power in the constitution of the United 
States which can prevent it. On the other hand, 
there is no power in the same instrument which can 
prevent any State from abolishing slavery at will. 

As members of the Federal pact, it was incumbent 
upon the States to act always, and strictly in good 
faith towards each other in executing the provisions 
of the constitution. A sense of honour alone should 
have compelled them to do so. Has this been the 
way in which the North has acted towards the 
South? Let their ' Personal Liberty bills' be the 
answer. Judge Story, the eminent jurist, and cele- 
brated opponent of slavery, has stated that the Union 



58 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

never could have been framed without the mutual 
obligation of the rendition of fugitive slaves, as pro- 
vided for by the constitution. It was indeed a most 
wanton violation of the constitution to attempt to 
evade the performance of duties enjoined by it. But 
when we consider that the rendition of fugitive slaves 
was made obligatory upon the Northern States by 
their own free assent to the constitution, the unceas- 
ing efforts made for a series of years to endanger the 
rights of the South, by evading this obligation, appear 
doubly wicked. The rendition of fugitive slaves was 
one of the fundamental rights of the South, but in a 
large number of the Northern States ' Personal 
Liberty bills ' were passed, which, making it punish- 
able by iine and imprisonment for citizens of these 
States to assist in the capture of any fugitive, rendered 
the execution of the constitution impossible. It is no 
reply to this that, according to the census of 1850, 
one slave escaped to each 2,527 held in bondage in 
the border Slave States ; whereas, according to that of 
1860, one escaped only to each 3,276. In a popula- 
tion of 1,638,297 slaves in these border States, this 
is an average loss of 500 slaves, or a loss of 100,000/. 
annually. 

To these political causes may be added those be- 
longing properly to the sphere of religion. 

Americans are accustomed to regard religion and 
everything pertaining thereto as one of the most im- 



DISSOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS UNION. 59 

portant and serious affairs of life. Until within a 
few years j)ast, religious societies had managed to keep 
aloof from the arena of politics. The Methodists 
were the first denomination that incorporated the 
question of slavery in their religious creed, and there- 
by created two parties. Afterwards the Baptists, 
and then the Presbyterians, followed their example. 
Thus was a division made in religion, which, taking 
a deep hold on the passions of men, was productive 
of the most deplorable results. The opponents of 
slavery characterized the system as the chief sin of 
the human race, and declared it unpardonable to re- 
main in the same religious union with those enter- 
taining other views. In fact, when we consider the 
full extent and significance of this event, we are led 
to conclude that, with the dissolution of the relig'ious 
union on the question of slavery, all hopes for the 
preservation of the political union were dissipated. 

Another powerful lever for the dissolution of the 
Union was the abuse of the sacred desk. The clergy 
of the North did not consider it inconsistent with 
their sacred calling to declare their political senti- 
ments from the pulpit, and that in the most fanatical 
way. 

The constitution which recognised slavery was 
denounced as ' a league with death, and a covenant 
with hell,' and in this way the right asserted to 
disregard the constitution in its relations to slavery. 



60 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Such impious doctrines met with greater approval, 
because the piously inclined hearers were disposed to 
receive as truth the maxims pronounced by their 
clergy, with less criticism and examination, than if 
they had been uttered by other teachers ; and so, the 
Avish of fimatical priests was confounded with the 
word of God. 

But on the growing youth such fanatical doctrines 
exerted a more lasting influence, because the thus 
educated representatives of the people and future 
members of Con2:ress, imbibinc^ those heresies with 
their mothers' milk, and rearing upon that sandy 
foundation the edifice of their political faith, became 
accustomed to consider the violation of the consti- 
tution as justifiable by the ' higher law.' 

Also, the vehement abuse that has only too often 
been uttered and written against the South, contri- 
buted not a little to widening the breach. Without 
any foundation it has been asserted repeatedly that 
the South violated the laws in regard to the slave- 
trade ; but it is known that all the slave-ships fitted 
out in America for the slave-trade between Africa 
and the West Indies are Northern ships, with 
Northern or foreign crews, which are sent out by 
Northern capitalists, while the odium of breaking the 
.treaties for the suppression of this traffic is cast upon 
the South. Moreover, this does not stand to reason 
when we bear in mind that most all of the Southern 



CALUIk'miES HEAPED UPON THE SOUTH. 61 

States have laws still in force, and in many cases ante- 
rior in date to the constitution, which forbid the impor- 
tation of African slaves from Africa into their borders. 

With equal injustice has the North contended that 
the notorious arrogance and insolence, which have 
characterized the political intercourse of the United 
States Government with foreign nations, were to be 
attributed to the South. The only argument ad- 
vanced to support this assumption was the fact that 
the former Presidents were chiefly those chosen by 
the South; whereas, in 'the nineteen presidential 
elections, sixteen of those that have been elected have 
received more electoral votes in the North than in 
the South. Sixteen have also received a majority of 
tlie electoral votes of the Northern States, while ojily 
three were chosen in opposition to the North by 
Southern States, in combination with a powerful 
Northern majority.'* For the future at least the 
South desires to see her interests represented in 
Europe with that courtesy which is usual in other 
countries, except in the North of America. 

Here belong, furthermore, the calumnies propagated 
against the South by the North. Among these was 
the charge that the South encouraged filibustering 
expeditions against Cuba, which, it was contended, 
lying near to the South, and having the institution of 

* Williams. The South Vindicated, London, 1862, p. 337. Some in- 
teresting comparisons of the presidential elections are to be found here. 



62 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

African slavery, the South was anxious to annex. 
The indefensibility of this reasoning shows itself at 
the first glance at the fact, that the acquisition of 
Cuba by the United States would have been dia- 
metrically opposed to the interests of the South ; for 
this island would, in that event," have satisfied its 
demand for labour, for slaves, by drawing its supply 
from the Southern States, as in that case the laws 
against the slave-trade would prevent their further in- 
troduction from Africa. But the South has not enough 
of this kind of labour for itself, and therefore the loss of 
its slaves by exportation to Cuba could not fail to be 
most serious in its consequences to the Southern States, 
Emigration from Europe also has contributed its 
full share to the dissolution of the Union. The 
greater part of these emigrants, particularly since the 
year 1848, consisted of political malcontents, persons 
without property, often fugitives from justice, fana- 
tical and embittered spirits, who brought ^vith them 
those socialistic ideas, only too much in consonance 
with the red Republican doctrines of the Kadicals in 
the North. These persons pretended to see in the 
prosperous slave-holding Southerners their hereditary 
enemies, and therefore, looking at tlie question of 
slavery from a purely ideal standpoint, helped to 
fun into full flame the slumbering fires of discord, 
using the dissensions of the two sections with a real 
fanaticism for their own selfish ends, after receiving 



SIGNIFICANCE OF LINCOLN'S ELECTION. 63 

homes almost without cost at the hands of the Federal 
Government. 

Finally, it may be added that the impression dis- 
seminated by the North, that the election of Mr. 
Lincoln was the sole cause of the dissolution of the 
Union, is absolutely false. This was the result of 
consummate malice on the part of the North, in order 
to place the Southerners in a false light before 
Europe, as rebels. We say this was done maliciously, 
for never has it occurred to the South to dispute the 
constitutionality of Lincoln's election, at least as far 
as the form of it is concerned. It is consequently false 
Avhen the North asserts that the South, spoiled by the 
elections of its former presidential candidates in com- 
bination with the Democratic party of the North, 
could not bear the galling idea of submitting to be 
governed by a man who belonged to another political 
party. No; it was not the unconstitutionality of 
Lincoln's election, who, it is true, while receiving the 
majority of votes in the Electoral College, only 
received 1,857,610 of the 4,715,270 electoral votes 
cast, but other reasons, which caused secession. It was 
the well-founded apprehension that the advocates of 
the principles of the ' Republican ' party, a party un- 
disguisedly hostile to the South, would soon gain the 
supremacy in Congress, and, in cooperation with 
their political ally, the new President, would proceed 
to trample under foot the rights of the Southern 



64 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

States ; it was the apprehension that this party, 
passing soon from words to deeds, would attempt to 
execute their unconstitutional intentions with respect 
to slavery, when it would have been too late to think 
about withdrawing from the Union. Secession had 
long been viewed in the South as the last means at 
command to prevent the destruction of constitutional 
liberty and justice in America. And now, when 
Lincoln was elected, the South realized that the long 
anticipated time had arrived, and that it was necessary 
to act before its independence and liberty were for 
.ever lost. 

But indeed, what importance was to be attached to 
the election of Mr. Lincoln? Lincoln was the victo- 
rious candidate of a purely sectional party. Is^othing 
similar to this had ever before occurred. A President 
elected against the unanimous protest of every State 
in the South, and elected solely by the votes of its 
declared enemies. This was not the cause of secession, 
but only the occasion of it. 

Had the necessary guarantees asked for by the 
South always been accorded, and had the North 
always given sufficient grounds for confidence in the 
conscientious observation of the constitution, as very 
rightly xlemanded by the South, the Southern States 
.would have acquiesced in the election of Lincoln, and 
there would have been no cause for secession. Had 
the North been less abusive in its relations with 



SECESSION COULD NOT BE DELAYED. 65 

the South, it is not impossible that for a number of 
years to come the South would have remained passive, 
and suffered itself to be plundered, as had already- 
been the case for a long time. 

Can any unprejudiced mind now doubt that the 
time had come when the South, standing alone, 
without any guarantees for the observation of the 
constitution, was obliged to act ? On the contrary, an 
examination of the numerous social, economic, and 
political causes already recorded, all contributing in 
a greater or less degree, perhaps unequally, to 
jeopardise the existence of the Union, must establish 
the conviction that the moment had really arrived, 
when the liberty, the rights, the welfare, and the 
honour of the South must compel it to dissolve those 
now only external bonds, which united it to a Union 
that had long since ceased to exist in the spirit of the 
constitution. 



66 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE AVAR. 



I. Unconstitutionality of the War. 

By the constitution it is expressly provided that 
Congress alone shall have the right to declare icar 
and to raise and support armies. The power is also 
given to Congress ^ to provide for calling forth the 
militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress 
insurrections, and rehel invasions.'* We have al- 
ready cited the autliority of Rawle,f to show that it 
is only in the event that a faction should attempt to 
* subvert the government of a State that ' the case 
provided for (by this clause of the constitution) will 
have arisen, and the Union is bound to employ its 
power to prevent it.' It has been attempted to prove 
that the withdrawal of a State, secession, from the 
Union is not only the legitimate exercise of State 
sovereignty., but also a constitutional riglit] it is there- 
fore neither opposition to the laws of the Union nor 

* Constitution, Art. I. Sect. 8. 
t AVilliam Rawle, 1. c. p. 292. 



COERCION UNCONSTITUTIONAL. 67 

rebellion. Hence it follows, that not even Congress 
itself, least of all the President^ had the right to 
oppose to the secession of the Southern States armed 
force. We direct attention here to the fact, that in 
the debates of the Convention at Philadelphia in 1787 
Madison observed : 

' The use of force against a State would look more 
like a declaration of war than an infliction of 
punishment; and would probably be considered by 
the party attacked as a dissolution of all previous 
compacts by which it might be bound. He hoped 
that such a system would be framed as might render 
this resource unnecessary, and moved that the clause 
be postponed.' This motion was agreed to unani- 
mously * And never since that time has there been 
a question of coercion. 

In recent times, also, has this principle been 
confirmed. Even President Buchanan has supported 
it. He says :f 

' The question fairly stated is — Has the consti- 
tution delegated to Congress the power to coerce a 
State into submission which is attempting to withdraw, 
or has actually withdrawn, from the confederac}^ ? 
If answered in the afarmative, it must be on the 
principle that the power has been conferred upon 
Congress to declare and make war against a State. 

* Madison Papers, vol. ii. p. 761. 

I President Buchanan's Message to Congress, December 3, 1860. 

F 2 



68 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDilNCE. 

After much serious reflection, I have arrived at the 
conclusion that no such' power has been delegated to 
Congress or to any other department of the Federal 
Government. It is manifest, upon an inspection of the 
constitution, that this is not among the specific and 
enumerated powers granted to Congress; and it is 
equally apparent that its exercise is not " necessary 
and proper for carrying into execution" any one of 
these powers. So far from this power having been 
delegated to Congress, it was expressly refused by 
the convention which framed the constitution. 

' Without descending to particulars it may be safely 
asserted, that the power to make war against a State 
is at variance with the whole spirit and intent of the 
constitution. Suppose such a war should result in 
the conquest of a State, how are we to govern it 
afterwards? Shall we hold it as a province, and 
govern it by despotic force ? In the nature of things 
^ve could not, by physical force, control the will of 
the people, and compel them to elect senators and re- 
presentatives to Congress, and to perform all the 
other duties depending on their own volition, and 
required from the free citizens of a free State as a 
constituent member of the confederacy. 

' But if we possessed the power, would it be wise to 
exercise it under the circumstances ? The object 
would, doubtless, be to preserve the Union. War 
would not only present the most effectual means of 



OPINIONS OF PEESIDENT BUCHANAN. 69 

destroying it, but would banish all hope of its peace- 
able reconstruction. Besides, in the fraternal conflict 
a vast amount of blood and treasure would be 
expended, rendering future reconstruction between 
the States impossible. In the meantime, who can 
foretell what would be the sufferings and privations of 
the people during its existence? 

' The fact is that our Union rests upon public 
opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of 
its citizens shed in civil war. If it cannot live in the, 
affections of the people, it must one day perish. 
Congress possesses many means of preserving it by 
conciliation ; but the sword was not placed in their 
hands to preserve it by force.' 

II. Commencement of the War. 

The secession of the State of South Carolina in 
1860 had been regarded beforehand as a possible 
event; nevertheless, public opinion in the North was 
not sufficiently prepared to realize all the significance 
attaching to it. On several previous occasions the 
Southern States had threatened to resume the ex- 
ercise of their delegated authority, and consequently 
the North, particularly New England, was disposed 
to consider this last threat another bugbear. 

"When the Convention of South Carolina passed the 
ordinance of secession, commissioners were despatched 



7(5 



THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



to the Federal Government to commence negotiations 
respecting tlie claims of both parties, and to agree 
upon the terms of their adjustment. At the same 
time a demand was made upon the Federal Govern- 
ment to withdraw its troops from the forts in the 
harbour of Charleston. It is true that these forts 
were Federal property, which had been acquired with 
the consent of South Carolina; this was not disputed, 
but South Carolina demanded that the Federal 
Government should evacuate them, pledging itself, in 
the settlement of their mutual claims, to grant full 
indemnity for the outlay that had been *made in 
constructing the forts. Now that South Carolina 
had determined to undertake the protection of its 
own coast, the Federal Government could no longer 
pretend to any right to retain the forts; for it was 
self-evident that South Carolina could not submit to 
the presence of foreign troops on its soil. President 
Buchanan, however, refused to recognise these com- 
missioners as the representatives of a foreign State, 
and declined to accede to their demand. 

Nevertheless, the commissioners remained in 
Washington, seeking to accomplish their purpose by 
obtaining an acknowledgement of their claims ; they 
limited their demands, however, for the moment to 
the extent, that no reinforcements whatever should 
be sent to Fort Sumter. On the other hand, they 
agreed to permit the small garrison to remain in the 



NEGOTIATIONS AFTER SECESSION. 71 

forts, South Carolina binding itself not to attack 
them, so long as the stipulation not to send rein- 
forcements should be observed by the Federal Govern- 
ment. President Buchanan acceded to this proposal, 
and communicated the result to Congress in his 
message of January 8, 1861. At the same time 
he attempted to justify the promise made to the 
commissioners, by the desire to avoid the commence- 
ment of hostilities; as South Carolina had given 
assurance of its intention to regard any attempt to 
send reinforcements to Charleston, or to change the 
status quo of the forts, as a declaration of war on the 
part of the United States. The President desired 
the more to avoid a bloody collision, as he still 
cherished the hope of restoring the Union by 
moderation. 

When ]\Ir. Lincoln was inaugurated as Mr. 
Buchanan's successor, and took an oath before 
assembled Congress to observe the constitution, he, 
too, refused to acknowledge the commissioners from 
South Carolina as the representatives of an inde- 
pendent State; still he caused Mr. Seward to enter 
into a correspondence with them, in Avhich the 
engagement entered into by ]Mr. Buchanan was 
not repudiated, consequently silently acknowledged. 

Mr. Seward favoured a peaceful adjustment of 
the difficulty; and his influence, it is said, caused 
Mr. Lincoln also to desire a peaceful solution in the 



72 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

beginning. AVe are indebted to Governor Pickens of 
South Carolina, however, for information respecting 
the motives which induced President Lincoln, at the 
expiration of a few weeks, suddenly to reverse his 
policy. Soon after the commencement of hostilities. 
Governor Pickens caused the history of the negotia- 
tions at Washington to be published over hi§ own 
name in one of the journals of the State.* We insert 
this document, as tending to throw a great deal of 
light upon the secret history of the war. 

' State of Soutli Carolina. 
'Head-quarters: Aug. 3, 1861. 

' I have every reason, from information received 
by me in the most confidential manner (not forbid- 
ding publication, however), and through one very 
near the most intimate counsels of the President of 
the United States, to induce me to believe that the 
following article was submitted, as a proof sheet, to 
Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet ; that a proclamation, in 
conformity with its general views, was to be issued; 
and that a change in the decision of the Cabinet was 
made in one night, when exactly the contrary course 
was adopted. It is asserted in this article (which 
in all probability is a proof sheet from a confidential 
New York paper), that if the President desired to 
excite and madden the whole North to a war of 

* The Columbia 'South Carolinian' of August 3, 1861. 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR. 73 

extermination against slavery, and in favour of the 
absolute plunder and conquest of tlie South, he had 
only to resolve that Major Anderson and his garrison 
and Fort Sumter should perish, as it appears was well 
known would have to be the case. Major Anderson 
and his men were to be used as fuel, to be thrown in 
to kindle the flames of fanaticism, and to force the 
Northern people into a united war, which would give 
the Abolition leaders absolute control over the Go- 
vernment and country. What must be the feelings 
of the civilised world when it is known that the 
President of the United States and his Cabinet did 
so act, and with a view expressly to carry out this 
policy of exciting the whole Northern mind ? 

' Major Anderson had officially informed the former 
Administration that he could hold Fort Sumter; 
and, of course, if the object of that Administration 
was to betray the Government into the hands of the 
Secessionists, as is charged in the article, then Major 
Anderson must have been a party to the treason; 
and if he informed the new President, on the 4th of 
March, as is said to be the case, that he could not 
hold the fort, then he acted out his part fully in 
aiding to place Mr. Lincoln and his Cabinet exactly 
where they were, and to compel them to evacuate 
the fortress, or to use the garrison as victims, to be 
slaughtered on the unholy altar of blind fanaticism 
and mad ambition. 



74- THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

' I know the fact from Mr. Lincoln's most intimate 
frieixl and accredited agent, Mr. Lamon, that the 
President of the United States professed a desire to 
evacuate Fort Sumter, and he (Mr. Lamon) actually 
wrote me, after his return to Washington, that he 
would be back in a few days to aid in that purpose. 
Major Anderson was induced to expect the same 
thing, as his notes to me prove. I know the fact 
that Mr. Fox, of the United States Navy, after ob- 
taining permission from me, upon the express gua- 
rantee of a former gallant associate in the navy, to 
visit Major Anderson " for pacific purposes," planned 
the pretended attempts to relieve and reinforce the 
garrison by a fleet, and that Major Anderson pro- 
tested against it. I now believe that it was all a 
scheme, and that Fox's disgraceful exj)edition was 
gotten up in concert with I\lr. Lincoln, merely to 
delude the Northern public into the belief that they 
intended to sustain and protect Major Anderson, 
when, in fact, according to the article now published 
for the first time, they decided to do no such thing, 
and acted with the deliberate intention to let the 
garrison perish, that they might thereby excite the 
North, and rouse them to unite in this unholy and 
unnatural war, by which the desperate and profligate 
leaders of an infuriated and lawless party might 
gratify their vengeance and lust of power over the 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR, 75 

ruins of their country, and amid the blind passions 
of a maddened people. 

' The document now published, and the peculiar 
circumstances, show the basest and most infamous 
motives that have ever actuated the rulers of any 
people, except, perhaps, in the days of the first 
French revolution, when history shows that whole- 
sale murder was often planned by insurrectionists in 
Paris, under the deliberate guidance of malignant 
leaders, whose whole objects were universal plunder 
and murder, in order to exterminate one party and 
ride into power themselves. 

' A moment's review of the line of argument pur- 
sued in the article, will show that the policy finally 
adopted in regard to Fort Sumter was intended and 
desired by Mr. Lincoln and his advisers to lead to a 
-war, not to be regulated by the rules and usages 
among civilized people, but to one of rapine, murder, 
and utter extermination of the people against whom 
it was intended to be waged, founded ujDon no prin- 
ciple of right, seeking not to reestablish any dis- 
puted authority, or establish any other object than 
to gratify a lust for power and revenge. 

' For the purpose of directly proving the motives 
and impulses of the United States Government in 
the inauguration of this war, it is only necessary to 
make- several extracts from the article in question, 
as they will serve also to direct the special attention 



76 THE SECOND WAH OF INDEPENDENCE. 

of the public to those portions which most vividly 

prove the unhallowed purposes of President Lincoln 

and his advisers. 

' One of the chief ends of the article seems to have 

been the proof of treason on the part of President 

Buchanan, and through all of it runs the oft-repeated 

" alternative " left them by him of " permitting Major 

Anderson and his command to starve Avithin fifteen 

days," or of ignominiously abandoning it to a nest 

of "unprincipled rebels." 

***** 

' It was intended to show that the object of Pre- 
sident Lincoln was to preserve " peace," not to " make 
war;" to "protect the sacred Constitution" confided 
to his keeping, and to gain over, by his avowedly 
peaceful objects, those who had defied that " Consti- 
tution " and broken its laws. It is asserted that 
President Lincoln could not suppress the " tears " of 
anguish which his signing the order for the evacua- 
tion of Fort Sumter called forth, and it is said, too, 
that he desired to " discharge his duty to humanity ; " 
and yet he has chosen to " discharge " that " duty " in 
the singular way of resolving on a policy which, in 
his o\vn words, he knew would " raise throughout 
the mighty North a feeling of indignation, which 
in ninety days would have emancipated every slave 
on the continent, and driven their masters int^ the 
sea." 



. SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR. ^77 

' The sacrifice was made ; Anderson and his com- 
mand were forced to become liable as victims to 
fanaticism; Fort Sumter was wrapt in flames; and 
yet, forsooth, they tell us that the only man who 
could have prevented it was " resolved to discharge 
his duty to humanity," and that his purpose was 
" peace " — his aversion " war." His " purpose " was 
changed, and he resolved to bring on this unhal- 
lowed war. It is a Government actuated with these 
feelings that we are to defend ourselves against; it 
is this kind of war, then, that the people of the South 
are to meet; and under these circumstances it be- 
comes my duty to publish the article in question 
for the information of the people of the Confederate 
States, and for the cool and unbiassed contemplation 
of the civilised world. 

'A war thus inaugurated — from such motives and 
under such circumstances — surely can never meet 
with the favour of heaven. A people educated and 
trained up to constitutional liberty can never, for 
any length of time, sustain such a war. 

' F. W. Pickens.' 

ABANDONMENT OF FORT SUMTER. 

NECESSITY KNOWS NO LAW. 

' There are periods in the history of nations and 
individuals, when the force of even this proverb is 



78. THE SECOND WAK OF INDEPENDENCE. 

illustrated. The law, or rather the demands of 
justice, self-respect, national honour, and the vindi- 
cation of our nationality in the eyes of Europe, all 
demand that we should retain possession of Fort 
Sumter at any and every sacrifice; and no man in 
this nation is more deeply impressed with the para- 
mount importance of so doing, than is Abraham 
Lincoln, the President of the United States. He feels 
and recognises his duty in the premises; but the law 
of necessity steps in, puts at defiance his wishes and 
his duty, and sternly forbids his attempting to hold 
or relieve the noble fortress so promptly snatched 
from the hands of the rebels and traitors of Charles- 
ton, by the timely action of Major Anderson. 
Buchanan and his traitor Cabinet had deliberately 
planned the robbing of our arsenals, under the su- 
perintendence, and Avith the connivance of the mise- 
rable fellow Floyd, whose portrait now hangs so 
conspicuously in the Rogue's Gallery of our City 
Police ; and we all know, that when Major Anderson 
took possession of Fort Sumter, Floyd demanded its 
restoration to the rebels, and that Buchanan actually 
yielded to the demand, until threatened with danger 
to his person if he ventured upon any such act of 
treachery. He yielded to a stern necessity ; but in 
yielding he determined to accomplish by manage- 
ment and finesse what he had not the courage to 
do openly. He accordingly refused to permit the 



SECKET HISTORY OF THE WAR. 79 

fort to be reinforced, as it could have been in those 
days, with the necessary men and stores to enable 
it to hold out for a year at least against any force 
which could be brought against it; and it was not 
until after Morris's Island had been fortified, that he 
sanctioned the abortive attempt at succour made by 
the Star of the West ; and even countermanded that 
order before it was carried into effect. 

' From Christmas until March 4, the traitors and 
rebels of Charleston and the cotton States, received 
every countenance and support from Mr. Buchanan 
which could be afforded them ; and when he retired 
from office on the 4th instant, he gloated over the 
conviction that he had fostered rebellion and treason 
until they had become so rampant, that they Avere 
beyond the control of his successor. And the one 
great source of his glorification was, that Fort 
Sumter was without provisions; and that of ne- 
cessity, the garrison must surrender from starvation 
before it would be in the power of the Republican 
Administration to relieve and reinforce it. 

' Of course, Abraham Lincoln could know nothinn- 
of this treason ; and when in his inaugural he spoke 
of occupying the public forts and collecting the 
revenue, he little dreamed that his predecessor had 
treasonably arranged to make the abandonment of 
Fort Sumter a political necessity. He was soon ap- 
prised, however, that the treason of his predecessor 



80 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

had cunningly devised for him the most serious mor- 
tification that could be inflicted; and that he had 
presented to him the alternative of permitting 
Anderson and his command to starve or promptly to 
withdraw them, and ignominiously permit the fort 
to fall into the hands of the rebels. To reinforce 
the garrison or to supply them with provisions is 
equally impossible, for James Buchanan, and his 
associate traitors, designedly refused to do so while 
it was in their power to do it; and compelled the 
commandant of the fort quietly to permit the con- 
struction of works in his immediate vicinity, and 
under the range of his guns, Avhich -svould effectually 
prevent his being relieved when an honest man 
assumed the Government on March 4. Buchanan's 
final act of treason has been consummated. He 
prevented the last Congress from passing a law 
giving power to the Executive to call for volun- 
teers to occupy and recapture the public forts and 
arsenals, and he designedly left Fort Sumter in a 
position which renders relief physically impossible 
without an army of from 10,000 to 20,000 men^ 
and the employment of a naval force greater than 
we can command ; and he and his myrmidons now 
exultingly and tauntingly say to the Republican 
President : " Do your worst. We have designedly 
Avithheld from you the means of relieving and hold- 
ing Fort Sumter, and we invite you to the pleasing 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR. 81 

alternative of permitting Anderson and his command 
to starve within fifteen days, or of ignominiously 
abandoning it to a nest of traitors and rebels, whom 
we have nursed into existence as the only certain 
mode of destroying the Republican party." 

' Such are the simple facts of the case as they are 
presented to the new President upon his assuming 
the reins of Government; and we speak advisedly 
and from knowledge, when we say that, while the 
country has been wickedly made to believe that the 
time of the Administration has been occupied with 
the disposal of offices, four-fifths of all the hours 
spent in consultation by the Cabinet have been de- 
voted to the consideration of the all-important 
question — How to save Fort Sumter, and avert 
from the Government the dishonour of abandoning 
it to the miserable traitors who, for months, have 
been in open rebellion against the authority of the 
Government ? Generals Scott and Totten, and all 
the military and naval chiefs at Washington, have 
been consulted; every plan which military science 
could conceive, or military daring suggest, has been 
attentively considered and maturely weighed, with a 
hope, at least, that the work of the traitor Buchanan 
was not so complete as he and his associates sup- 
posed. But all in vain. There stands the isolated 
naked fact — Fort Sumter cannot be relieved be- 
cause of the treason of the late Administration, and 

G 



82 THE SECOND WAR OE INDEPENDENCE. 

Major Anderson and his command must perish by 
starvation unless withdraAvn. 

' What, then, is to be done ? Could the President 
leave them to starve? Qui bono? Would the sacrifice 
of a handful of gallant men to the treason of thieves 
and rebels have been grateful to their countrymen? 
But, says the indignant yet thoughtless patriot, 
" think of the humiliation and dishonour of abandon- 
ino" Sumter to the rebels ! " We do think of it, and 
weep tears of blood over the humiliation thus brought 
upon the country by the traitor President, who has 
just retired to Wheatland to gloat over his consum- 
mated treason. And we are assured, too, and do 
not doubt the truth of the assurance, that when 
Abraham Lincoln was compelled to yield his re- 
luctant consent to this most humiliating concession 
to successful treason, he did not attempt to suppress 
the sorrow and tears which it called forth. But he 
had no alternative. " Necessity knows no law; " and 
to save the lives of the gallant men who have so 
long held Fort Sumter against an overwhelming 
force of heartless traitors and wicked and unprin- 
cipled rebels, whose treason has been steeped in fraud 
and theft, vulgarly known as " Southern chivalry," 
the President of the United States, in the discharge 
of a duty to humanity, has signed the order for the 
evacuation of Sumter. 

' Had war, not peace, been his object — had he de- 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR. 83 

sired to raise througlioiit the mighty North a feeling 
of indignation, which in ninety days would have 
emancipated every slave on the continent and driven 
their masters into the sea, if needs be — he had only 
to have said : " Let the garrison of Fort Sumter do 
their duty and perish beneath its walls; and on the 
heads of the traitors and rebels of the slavery pro- 
pagandists be the consequences." Such a decision 
would have carried joy to the bosoms of Phillips 
and Garrison and their fanatical associates, who so 
justly consider abolitionism and disunion synony- 
mous ; but it would have brought upon the country 
such scenes of horror as the mind shrinks from con- 
templating. Verily, the blood of the martyrs would 
have been the seed of " Negro emancipation." For 
every patriot soldier thus sacrificed to the revival 
of the African slave-trade and the establishment of a 
hideous slaveocracy at the South, ten thousand negro 
slaves would have been emancipated, and as many of 
their masters driven into the ocean to expiate their 
crimes on earth. 

' But Mr. Lincoln desired to rouse no such feeling 
of revenge among the people of the free States. He 
knew — no man knew better — that he had but to 
hold on to Fort Sumter, agreeably to the plainly 
expressed will of the people, and leave its gallant 
garrison to the fate prepared for them by rebels and 
traitors, to insure an uprising which v/ould at once 

G 2 



84 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

wipe out slavery from the face of the country, and 
with it all engaged in this atrocious rebellion 
against the Government. But his purpose is peace, 
not war. His object is to restore, to rebuild, and to 
preserve the Government and the constitution which 
enacted it, and his great aim is, while maintaining 
the constitution and enforcing the laws, to bring 
back good men to their allegiance, and leave the 
thieves, and rogues, and braggarts who compose the 
great mass of the rebels, under the cognomen of 
" Southern Chivalry," to the uninterrupted enjoy- 
ment of their own precious society, and the reflections 
which time must awaken even in them. He is 
mindful of his oath " registered in heaven," to pre- 
serve the constitution and enforce the laws ; and he 
feels that his mission is to reclaim, and not extin- 
guish, or he would most assuredly have left Fort 
Sumter to its fate, and that fate would have been 
speedy, certain, and absolute annihilation to the 
traitors now in rebellion against the Government, 
and to the very existence of the institution of slavery 
on the American continent. But he has been faith- 
ful to his oath of office and to the constitution ; and 
by yielding to the necessity of the case and listening 
to the cry of humanity, slavery has had accorded to it 
its last victory over freedom and the constitution of 
the United States. 

' The deed has been accomplished; the sacrifice has 



SECRET HISTORY OF THE WAR. 85 

been made ; traitors and rebels are again triumphant ; 
and the stars and stripes are again to be dishonoured 
in the sight of the nation and of astonished Europe ; 
the flag of the Union is to be pulled down, and the 
bloody banner of pirates, freebooters, rebels, and 
traitors is to be run up to wave triumphantly over 
Fort Sumter, and be saluted from hundreds of guns 
in the rebel camj^, amid the cheers of thousands 
whose senseless gasconade and braggadocio vauntings 
have long since disgusted brave men and honest 
citizens. And yet we approve the act. A traitor 
President rendered it a necessity, and humanity 
demanded that Abraham Lincoln should sacrifice all 
personal feelings, and gracefully yield to that neces- 
sity and the deliberately planned treason upon which 
it is based. His countrymen will sustain him in the 
discharge of a humiliating but an imperative duty ; 
but, with him, they feel that the account is now 
closed with treason. There is nothing now to yield 
to traitors — nothing more to sacrifice in order to give 
slavery and the slave-trade the odour of nationality. 
In future the President of the United States has only 
laws to enforce and a constitution to sustain; and 
woe be to them who thwart him in the performance 
of his duty, and to himself if he dares to shrink from 
the performance of his whole duty.' 

Conformably to the original desire of Mr. Lincoln 
to evacuate Fort Sumter, the commissioners had 



86 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

been quieted with the assurance that no effort would 
be made to relieve that garrison ; but, as seen from 
the foregoing, the President suddenly changed his 
policy, and South Carolina, considering this as breach 
of the peace, took measures for self-defence. 

This unexampled want of good faith strengthened 
the other Southern States in their distrust of Lincoln 
and his party ; it revealed to them the character of 
the ' Republican ' President with whom they had to 
deal; and thus nothing was more natural than their 
secession from the Union. 

The action of Lincoln must, then, be regarded as 
a purely party manoeuvre, by which it was designed 
to obtain permanent supremacy for his party, and 
absolute control of the Government. The conception 
of this plan by Lincoln w^as well devised; it was 
foreseen that, in the immense popular excitement 
sure to ensue, few persons in the North would stop 
to question the constitutionality of his proceedings; 
and that even those bavins^ the hardihood to do so 
would be powerless to harm him, whilst the mob 
sustained him in his course with its approval. 

Everyone is aware of the success that attended 
Lincoln's calculations ; Fort Sumter was bombarded 
and forced to capitulate; the cry for vengeance was 
sounded throughout the length and breadth of the 
land; and President Lincoln proclaimed the bom- 
bardment of Fort Sumter to be treason a2:ainst the 



CHARACTER OF THE WAR. 87 

Union, while it was, in fact, only the beginning of 
hostilities for self-defence that had been forced upon 
South Carolina by an act of the Federal Government, 
which, it was known, would be regarded as a de- 
claration of war. 

The next important official act of the new Pre- 
sident, who had only a few weeks previously sworn 
to observe the constitution, was a clear violation of 
his oath and of the constitution, by raising an army 
of 75,000 men to wage war against the liberty and 
rijrhts of the South. The administration thus com- 
menced by a reckless disregard of the solemn nature 
of an oath, and by a violation of the constitution, has 
continued to disgrace itself by a series of the most 
flagrant violations of it, and has served to mark 
President Lincoln as a man who has reduced it to 
the perfection of a trade, to trample under foot with 
despotic violence almost all the constitutional rights 
of the once free American people. 

III. Character of the War — on the part of the North, a 
means for the acquisition of greater joower ; 
on the part of the South, for securing its inde- 
pendence and liberty. 

The former territory of the United States consisted 
of two political divisions — the one comprising the 
thirty-four States, the other the Territories. The 



88 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPEKDENCE. 

latter contain but a limited population; for being 
situated mostly in the interior, with little or no 
direct communication with the sea, they do not offer 
the same attractions for emigration as many of the 
States. Of the thirty-four States, fifteen are Southern, 
the so-called Slave States; these comprise an extent 
of territory as great as that of the other nineteen 
States, having an area of more than 800,000 square 
miles — a country possessing one of the most produc- 
tive soils of the world for agriculture, whilst abound- 
insf in almost inexhaustible treasures of minerals. 
Thirteen of the Southern States have already formally 
seceded from the Union ; another, Maryland, is com- 
pletely in the possession of a Northern army, and 
prevented by force from joining the Confederate 
States; while only Delaware, the smallest of all, has 
remained in the Union. 

The Mississippi river, which drains the entire North- 
West, flows through the centre of the seceded States ; 
its mouths and a great part of its extent are com- 
manded by these same States ; and thus the products 
of the North- West, in passing over this natural com- 
mercial highway, have to traverse a foreign country. 
The importance of the Mississippi for the North- 
West is almost incalculable, and must cause that sec- 
tion to cultivate the most friendly relations with the 
nation possessing its mouths ; for it is the only na- 
tural outlet for the varied and rich products of 



PROPOSED OBJECTS OF THE WAR. 89 

this fertile country. Without it, direct communi- 
cation with Europe would be cut off almost entirely ; 
while it is at the same time the most convenient, 
and the cheapest route for transportation to market. 
The North is therefore compelled to prevent, if pos- 
sible, the West, the richest part of its territory, from 
becoming dependent on a foreign nation for a natural 
outlet for its productions. It is only by retaining 
possession of this gteat river that the North-West can 
remain commercially independent, and the war already 
commenced is prosecuted with energy to secure this 
result. 

The free population of the United States amounted 
in 1860 to 27,477,090 souls; that of the Southern 
States to 8,352,385, to Avhich number must be added 
3,952,738 slaves. Without the South the whole popu- 
lation of the North would amount to only 19,124,705 
inhabitants; the war is therefore waged to retain 
this entire population, which the North hopes to 
control by its superiority in numbers. 

The white and black populations of the South to- 
gether amount to 12,305,123 souls. But the South, 
as we have seen, has always been the chief, and 
almost exclusive market for the manufactures of 
the North; the war is carried on therefore to retain 
twelve and a half millions of forced customers for the 
products of Northern industry. The South has also 
been made to contribute far more than its proportion 



90 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

of the means for administerinsr the Federal Govern- 
ment. This war is intended to secure not only the 
control of a greater power, but along with it to 
obtain, also, the chief means of its support. 

Should the South succeed in achieving its inde- 
pendence, the North must submit to see the great 
Southern trade, which formerly passed through its 
cities, take new channels, and be carried on directly 
between Europe and the ports of the South. With 
the loss of the Southern export and import trade 
would vanish the Northern monopoly of the coasting 
trade; while the shipping interest generally of the 
North would suffer to an almost incredible extent. 
Thus would perish the very foundations upon which 
the commercial and industrial prosperity of the North 
rested. A successful termination of the war alone 
can avert all these evils from the North. 

An inevitable consequence qf the triumj)h of the 
South would be additional secessions from the Union. 
First of all the North- West would, for reasons already 
intimated, withdraw from the Federal league; its 
interests are too intimately identified with those of 
the South for it to remain connected with the North ; 
the protective policy of the Union will be found to 
be as inimical to tlie prosperity of the North- West, as 
it was oppressive to the South ; and self-interest will 
prompt this great section to leave the North and 
join its fortunes with those of the South, or else. 



OTHER SECESSIONS TO BE EXPECTED. 91 

constituting itself into an independent State, to form 
an alliance of friendship with the States having 
control of the Mississippi. Nor must it be forgotten 
that the North- West will, most probably, refuse to 
pay any part of the enormous debt incurred for the 
prosecution of a war, the unconstitutionality of which 
will become evident to it with time. 

On the Pacific Ocean as well, will the States there 
situated form themselves into a confederacy ; for Cali- 
fornia, Oregon, and the Territories of the far West, 
being already geographically separated from the rest 
by the Rocky Mountains, Avill naturally find it to 
their interest to form a league among themselves. 
Indeed, we might venture to predict that witliin a 
not very remote period of time, all the States will 
have withdrawn from New England, the original and 
chief disturber of the peace; and because New Eno-- 
land apprehends this result from secession, it has 
from the commencement of hostilities been loudest 
in its denunciations of secession, and the most zealous 
advocate of a vigorous war. At the same time, it 
may be remembered that up to this moment the 
contractors and manufacturers of New England have 
reaped the principal benefits of the war. From the 
above it will appear that nothing else could be ex- 
pected, than that the North should make every pos- 
sible effbrt to prevent the actual accomplishment of 
separation by the Southern States. 



92 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Ha vino- examined the nature of the war on the 
part of the North, it follows, naturally, that South 
resists these attacks in order to secure its inde- 
pendence and liberty. It has already been intimated 
how much the North was favoured above the South 
whilst the Union existed ; how after the election of a 
' Republican' President the apprehensions of the 
South reached their culmination, lest it should be 
handed over to the tender mercies of Northern plun- 
derers; and how these apprehensions aroused the 
feelings of the Southerners at the commencement of 
the conflict, although they endeavoured, by every 
honourable means in their power, to arrange the 
difficulty without a resort to arms. The develope- 
ments of the war have proven that these apprehen- 
sions were only too well founded, and that the fears 
of the Southerners that their constitutional ri2;hts 
and liberty would be trampled in the dust by a ' Re- 
publican' Administration, were equally well grounded. 
It is notorious that the liberty of the press, which 
had ever been regarded as the protector of the rights 
of the people against tyranny, has been trodden 
under foot in the North ; that more than eighty of 
the most influential and respectable newspapers of 
the North have been suppressed, because they dared 
to advocate peace and moderation; that President 
Lincoln has, without any authority, wantonly sus- 
pended the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus; 



ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY LINCOLN. 93 

that innocent men and defenceless women have been 
arrested by lettres de cachet^ and incarcerated in loath- 
some dungeons upon mere suspicion, without an idea 
of the charge against them — in spite of the constitu- 
tion, which provides that no one shall be deprived of 
liberty without ' due process of law;' that judges of 
the courts have been imprisoned, because, as in duty 
bound, they dared to vindicate the ' majesty of the 
law.' The President has dispersed the legislature 
of Maryland, a State proclaimed by himself to be 
loyal, and imprisoned a number of its members, 
because they presumed to assemble in the legitimate 
way prescribed by law ; and he has suppressed the 
voice of the people at the ballot-box by an armed 
force, threatening to imprison all who dared to vote 
against the candidates of his own party, and placing 
soldiery at the polls to execute the threat. Cities 
have been burned; towns and villages have been 
pillaged ; innocent men have been barbarously mur- 
dered ; the country has been ravaged ; harbours have 
been destroyed ; and finally it has been attempted to 
kindle a servile war by inciting the slaves to insur- 
rection. In a word, the South has seen constitutional 
liberty perish in the North, and arbitrary despotism 
and tyranny spring up to take its place. 

In view of these facts, may it not justly be claimed 
that the South is carrying on a war for order^ and 
for constitutional liberty and independence ? The 



94 THE SECOND WAU OF INDEPENDENCE. 

people of the Southern States are determined to be 
independent, and, convinced of the justice of their 
cause, are united as one man, resolved to perish all 
together rather than submit to the tyranny of 
Northern rule. If anything is potent to cause a 
people to fight with confidence and perfect self- 
devotion, it is the consciousness that they are fighting 
for their liberty, their homes, and their honour. This 
conviction pervades the entire people of the South, 
and is fully attested by their unity, self-sacrifice, 
and courage. 

IV. Contradictions in the re2iresentatio7is made re- 
specting the motives for waging the 2var. 

It is not true that the abolition of slavery in the 
South is the motive for the war waged by the North. 
At no time has this been true; and there are no 
facts in the case to sustain such an assumption. 
From the beginning of the war, the Northern press 
has, with the exception of the notoriously fanatical 
sheets, never ceased to protest that there was no in- 
tention of interfering witli the institution of slavery. 
It is not denied, however, that the Radical portion of 
the press has proclaimed, with equal emphasis, the 
desire of the extreme Abolitionists to see slavery 
receive its death-blow; but this has partaken, with 
few exceptions, rather of the nature of a party ma- 



MEANING OF ABOLITION IN AMERICA. 95 

ncEuvre to excite the mob, in order thus to acquire 
an influence over the Administration, and has served 
to avert attention from the fact that there was no real 
occasion for the war. 

The North does not even desire to see slavery 
abolished throughout the Southern States ; but only 
in the more northern of them — the Border States — as 
Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, Kentucky, and Missouri. Even here, the 
motive for desiring it is only to obtain fresh fields of 
labour for the white working classes ; for it is known 
that if the slaves were emancipated, in some of these 
States at least, where the climate is temperate, white 
labourers would drive them from the countr}^ As 
it now is, free labour is not able to compete with 
slave labour in those States. 

On the other hand, every obstacle is thrown in the 
way of free negroes wishing to emigrate to Northern 
States ; indeed, many of the States have special laws 
preventing free negroes altogether from coming into 
them to reside ; and President Lincoln has proposed 
to Congress to acquire a piece of territory beyond the 
limits of the United States, whither the whole Afri- 
can race in America may be transported. Briefly 
expressed, the abolition of slavery in America means 
nothing but more room and greater advantages for the 
white labourer. 

Philanthropy is not, therefore, the spring of action 



96 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

with the Northern abolitionist, as is so ostentatiously 
trumpeted forth to Europe, but self-interest; for, in- 
deed, his philanthropy is so limited that he will not 
associate, or work in company, with the negro. 

But self-interest is sufficient to prevent the North 
from really desiring to see slaver}^ abolished through- 
out the South; without African slave labour in the 
unhealthy climate of that section, where it is impos- 
sible for the white man to work, the cultivation of 
cotton would cease, and, thus, the cotton manufac- 
tures of the North would perish if made dependent 
upon cotton produced by the labour of free blacks — 
a race that notoriously will not work without com- 
pulsion. The New England manufacturer is fully 
aware of this fact, and feels that he has as great an 
interest in the preservation of the system of Southern 
labour as the planter. But, apart from this consider- 
ation, it is, in fact, only the extreme Abolition or 
' Republican ' party that pretends to wage war upon 
slavery ; the ' Democratic ' party, although not pro- 
slavery, has ever respected the rights of the South. 

Bepeatedly has the Government at Washington 
declared that it had neither the intention^ nor the 
wish to interfere with slavery; and Mr. Lincoln has 
at different times given assurance that he did not 
purpose attacking the institution, seeing that he had 
no power to do so under the constitution ; but that 
he made war for the preservation of the ' Union as 



HYPOCRITICAL POLICY RESPECTING SLAVERY. 97 

it was,' and along with it slavery. We know that 
General Fremont was, for the sole reason that he had 
presumed to declare the slaves of all ' rebel masters ' 
in ]\Iissouri free, deprived of his command by Presi- 
dent Lincoln. 

During the summer of 1861, Congress, in declaring 
that all slaves which had been employed for military 
service by their ' rebel masters ' should be consi- 
dered free, did not dare to proclaim the emancipa- 
tion of all the slaves, not even when their owners 
were serving in the ' rebel army.' Another evi- 
dence of the disposition of the North originally not 
to meddle with slavery, may be found in the Act of 
Congress of March 3, 1861, which provides: — ' That 
no amendment shall be made to the constitution 
which will authorise or give Congress power to abo- 
lish or interfere Avithin any State with the domestic 
institutions thereof, including that of persons held to 
labour or servitude by the laws of said State.' Here 
is a clear acknowledgement that no such power had 
been conferred by the constitution upon Congress. 

How false and hypocritical, then, has been the 
policy of the Washington Government in exerting 
itself to produce the impression through its agents 
in Europe, that the annihilation of the accursed sys- 
tem of slavery is the object of the present war ! No 
one can fail to perceive the motive for such a policv; 
it was in order to obtain in this way the sympathy 

H 



98 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

and moral support of Europe for a cause, ^Yhich 
could not pofesibly recommend itself otherwise to the 
European public. 

The war-cry of the Federal Government at home 
has always been ' the Union.' What is the true 
significance of the oft-repeated assertion, that ' the 
w^ar is waged for the preservation " of the Union?' 
The idea that the North is fighting for the Union 
from an innate, patriotic love for it, is without any 
foundation ; otherwise efi'orts would have been made 
to preserve it by conciliation. The late Senator 
Douglas, in a speech in the Senate of the United 
States on January 3, 1861, observed — 

' A war between eighteen States on tlie one side 
and fifteen on the other is to me a revolting thing. 
For what purpose is the war to be waged ? Certainly 
not for the purpose of preserving the Union. You 
cannot expect to exterminate ten millions of people, 
whose passions are excited with the belief that you 
mean to invade their homes, and light the flames of 
insurrection in their midst. You must expect to 
exterminate, or subjugate them, or else, when you 
have got tired of war, to make a treaty with them. 
No matter whether the war lasts one year, or seven 
years, or thirty years, it must have an end at some 
time. Sooner or later both parties will become tired 
and exhausted ; and when rendered incapable of 
fighting any longer, they will make a treaty of peace. 



WAR FOR THE UNION ONLY A PRETEXT. 99 

and that treaty will be one of separation. . . . 
I don't understand, then, how a man can claim to be 
a friend of the Union, and yet be in favour of waging 
war against ten millions of people in the Union. 
You cannot cover it up much longer under the pretext of 
love for the Union . . . But where there is a 
deep-rooted discontent pervading ten millions of 
people, penetrating every man, woman, and child, 
and involving everything dear to them, it is time for 
inquiring whether there is not some cause for the 
feeling.' 

If the expression, ' war for the Union,' has any 
meaning at all, it must signify a war for the preser- 
vation of the territory and power of the United 
States. A war for this purpose, as we have already 
demonstrated, is both wicked and unconstitutional, 
because it is aimed against State- sovereignty, the 
fundamental principle of the Union. It must, then, 
be a war of conquest, and a revolutionary war on the 
part of the North, since it proposes the overthrow of 
existing rights by violence. The South, by fighting 
against these revolutionary ideas, gives proof of its 
truly conservative policy. 



H 2 



100 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CAPACITY OF BOTH PARTIES FOR CARRYING ON THIS WAR. 

I. Resources in Men. 

Upon the commencement of hostilities, the Fedenil 
Government warned the friendly powers of Europe 
not to recognise the Southern States, as the rebellion 
would be crushed in a few weeks ; and at home, too, 
many proclamations in the same sense were issued to 
the Northern public, in order to prevent sympathy for 
the South from developing itself in their midst. It was 
assumed that the North, having greater resources in 
men and the material of war than the South, would 
inevitably be successful in the contest. 

Has the North fulfilled the eno^ao-ement thus 
entered into with Europe ? Not at all. On the con- 
trary, the condition of the Federal Government, has 
become worse with every day ; for the suppression of 
the rebellion must take place in the insurrectionary 
territory, and the Northern army can scarcely be 
said to have more than set foot upon this up to the 
present time. If the bold suppressor of rebellion 



RESULTS OF THE FIRST CAIMPAIGN. 101 

is not able to invade the country in which the insur- 
rection rages, then the above-mentioned promise to 
crush it must be regarded as unmeaning boasting ; 
the incapacity of the North to execute these threats, 
which manifests itself more clearly from day to day, 
allows the enemy time to arm, to gain strength, to 
erect works of defence, and to stand prepared with 
means sufficient for resistance, whenever the moment 
shall arrive in which the effort to crush 'the rebellion' 
shall be attempted. Every day of delay only adds 
strength to the rebels, whilst diminishing the chances 
of success for the invader. 

The results of the war up to this time may be 
definitely ascertained by an examination of the two 
campaigns now ended. The first ended with the 
winter of 1861 and 1862, the second with the pre- 
sent winter. At the end of the. first, which lasted 
eight months, the North had already succeeded in 
demonstrating its inability to subjugate the South; 
the Confederate army had successfully checked the 
advance of the Federal forces along the whole line 
from Missouri to Virginia, and had repulsed every 
attempt of the invader to penetrate into Southern 
territory ; at the close of the operations, the Federal 
army retreated from Missouri to St. Louis, abandon- 
ing the entire State, witli the exception of that 
city, to the Confederates ; they also retreatfd before 
the Southern army in Kentucky; after failing to 



102 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

accomplish any result in Western Virginia, they were 
forced to retire to the extreme limit of that State, 
and to go into winter quarters at Wheeling; and, 
after two gigantic efforts to penetrate into Eastern 
Virginia, they were both times fearfully routed at 
Bull Eun and Ball's Bluff, and driven back to the 
borders of Virginia, where they were at the com- 
mencement of the campaign. Thus it appears that 
during eight months the South repelled invasion 
from every part of its territory, recovering all the 
ground which had been occupied by the enemy, 
except certain forts that had been garrisoned by 
Federal forces before the commencement of the war. 
In the victories at Great Bethel, Bull Run, Spring- 
field, Lexington, Ball's Bluff, and Belmont, may be 
perceived the successful resistance which was opposed 
to the Northern invasion. 

But what did the North accomplish during this 
period? Beyond Ilatteras and Port Royal, abso- 
lutely nothing. The first of these two points is only 
a sand-bank, which was of no importance for the 
enemy, not being tenable during the mnter, on ac- 
count of the high tides and storms which prevail at 
that season ; and, without the occupation of tlie other 
points of the coast of North Carolina, this point 
would not suffice to cut off communication with the 
sea. Pcyt Royal is the entrance to the harbour of 
Beaufort, and the possession of it only serves to 



RESULTS OF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN. 103 

render tlie blockade of this port effectual. The occu- 
pation of isolated points on the coast brings little ad- 
vantage to the North, unless such points are to be 
used as bases for operations against the interior. 
Unfortunately for the North, its ships were not able 
to sail on dry land; and with large armies it had 
vainly attempted to achieve any results against 
Southern troops, although, in all cases in which it 
was essayed, the attending circumstances were far 
more favourable to the North than to the South. 

The second campaign opened with the movement 
of the Federal land-forces under McClellan in the 
East, and Buell in the West; while several naval 
expeditions were sent against points on the coast, 
and the fleet of o-un-boats commenced to descend the 
Mississippi. No success attended McClellan's at- 
tempt to advance on Richmond by Manassas, and 
consequently his base of operations were changed to 
Fort Monroe. At the same time two Federal armies 
advanced under Fremont from AVheeling, and under 
Banks from Winchester. These were both routed 
and almost annihilated by the Confederate forces 
under Jackson, Avho thereby freed a large part of 
Virginia from invasion. The result of McClellan's 
operations before Richmond are well-known ; and the 
fate of the army under Pope at the second battle of 
Bull Run needs no further mention. The Confede- 
rates, victorious at all points in Virginia, advanced 



104 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

into Maryland, and captured Harper's Ferry with 
its garrison and immense military stores. Subse- 
quently, a drawn battle was fought at Antietam, 
which left the Federal army in almost the same con- 
dition as after the first battle of Bull Run, and no 
further advanced into Virginia. In the West, the 
campaign commenced under ausj)ices peculiarly 
favourable to the North; it had completed its fleet 
of gun-boats for operations on the rivers, whilst its 
army was composed of the best men, probably, in the 
service, being chiefly trained German soldiers. The 
advance of these combined forces was successful at 
first : Fort Donnelson fell, and thus the way was 
opened for the gun-boats to Nashville. The Con- 
federate lines were broken, and the sense of security 
which had sprung up from the results of the first 
campaign was impaired. Previously it had been the 
policy of the Confederates to defend the entire extent 
of their frontiers ; the local interests and demands of 
the difi"erent States rendered this at first necessary. 
It now became evident, however, that the North was 
preparing for a long war ; the necessity of employing 
their forces in the most available manner dictated to 
the Confederates the expediency of changing the 
general idea of the campaign; and it was, accord- 
ingly, decided to concentrate the forces dispersed 
over such a great extent of country. With this 
change in their plans, the Confederate forces succes- 



RESULTS OF THE SECOND CAMPAIGN. 105 

sively evacuated several positions in Kentucky and 
Tennessee, retiring to the new lines of defence 
further southwards. The Federals continued their 
advance to Shiloh, where the western army received 
a shock from the Confederates under Beauregard and 
Johnson, from wliich it has never recovered. Since 
that time the Federal army in the West, divided 
into several" corps, has been marching and counter- 
marching in that section — at one time pursuing, and 
again the pursued. Although several battles have 
been fou2:ht in that region since Beaureojard's cele- 
brated retreat, they have generally been between 
comparatively small forces on both sides; and while 
neither army has obtained complete possession of 
Kentucky, the Confederates retain at least as much 
as they possessed of that State at the commencement 
of the war. The Federal forces which had advanced 
under cover of their gun-boats into Alabama, have 
been driven back entirely; and Tennessee is free 
from the Federals, with the exception of Nashville 
and country round ]\lemphis, both of wliich are held 
by gun-boats. West of the Mississippi the operations 
have been attended with varied results for both 
armies; but they have been unimportant by reason 
of the small numbers eno;a<i:ed, thus effectino; in no 
way materially the final issue of the war. 

Turning to the naval operations, we find that they 
have been limited to the occupation of a number of 



106 THE SECONP WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

points of minor importance on the coast, which have 
rendered the blockade more effective ; and to the 
capture of New Orleans, and a part of the Mississippi 
river, Vicksburg having resisted successfully all 
attacks made upon it. Thus we see that after 
another year of war, the North is as far from the 
accomplishment of its object as at the commence- 
ment of hostilities; the conquest of the South is 
no more nearly achieved than before it was at- 
tempted; the South has lost no points essential to 
defence; communication between the States has 
been maintained, and many new ways of communi- 
cation opened ; no single State has been subjugated, 
nor do the Federals rule over any portions of 
Southern territory, except those actually occupied 
for the moment by their forces ; in a word, nothing 
essential to the success of the South has been lost, 
and, indeed, the results of this second campaign are 
largely in its favour. 

On the breaking out of liostilities, the Govern- 
ment of Lincoln announced that by December 1, 
1861, the Federal army would be in possession of 
Richmond, Charleston, Mobile, New Orleans, and 
Nashville. Only two of these cities. New Orleans, 
and Nashville, are occupied by the Federals, and 
these were taken by the navy, not by the army. 

Whence, then, this over-estimation of its means on 
the part of the Northern? The response is that, 



NUMERICAL STRENGTH OF THE BELLIGERENTS. 107 



although the North is very rich, and contains a 
larger population, the South is not without great 
resources; while a variety of circumstances con- 
spire to render a large proportion of the Northern 
population unavailable for an aggressive war. 

In regard to the population of the two belligerent 
powers, we extract the following from the official 
census of 1860, published by the Department of 
State at Washington. The entire population of the 
South, with the exception of Delaware, is thus spe- 
cified : — 





Free inhabitants . 


Slave inhabitants 


Alabama 


529,164 . 


. 435,132 


Arkansas 


324,323 . 


. 111,104 


Florida 


78,686 . 


. 61,753 


Georgia 


595,079 . 


. 462,230 


Kentucky- 


930,223 . 


. 225,490 


Louisiana 


376,913 . 


. 332,520 


Maryland 


599,846 . 


. 87,188 


Mississippi 


354,699 . 


. 436,696 


Missouri 


1,058,352 . 


. 114,965 


North Carolina 


661,586 . 


. 331,081 


South Carolina 


301,271 . 


. 402,541 


Tennessee 


834,063 . 


. 275,784 


Texas 


420,651 . 


. 180,388 


Virginia . 


. 1,105,196 . 


. 490,887 


District of Columbiz 


I 71,895 . 


3,181 



Total 



8,241,965 



3,950,940 



To this must be added the territory of New 
Mexico, the entire free population of which amounts 
to 93,517 souls, which with the above 8,241,965 
make a total of 8,335,482. But the entire free 



108 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

population of tlie United States in 1860 was 
27,477,090; so that, after subtracting the 8,335,482 
inhabitants of the South, there remains a population of 
19,141,608 in the North. 

These numbers, 8,335,482 and 19,141,608 re- 
spectively, must not be assumed as absolutely ac- 
curate in the examination of the resources of the 
two sections; for there is, in certain of the seceded 
States, a portion of the population disaffected towards 
the South, as in Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, and 
small districts in Tennessee and Virginia, from which 
contingents for the Northern army have been taken ; 
while in several of the Northern States, there is a 
large proportion of the inhabitants which sym- 
pathises with the Confederates, and has refused to 
contribute soldiers for the war. Still it may be 
assumed, without essential error, that the number of 
the ' disaffected ' on each side is about the same, 
although no troops have been furnished by Cali- 
fornia and Utah, and few by certain parts of In- 
diana, Illinois, and Delaware. It must be borne 
in mind, however, that only a certain proportion of 
these respective numbers are capable of bearing- 
arms; that these are persons of the age which 
furnishes the principal class of labourers ; that, ne- 
cessarily, a large number of men capable of bearing 
arms in the North must remain at home for the 
cultivation of the soil; whilst m the South this 



CLAVE AND FREE LABOUR. 109 

labour is performed almost exclusively by the slaves, 
whereby the entire male population capable of bear- 
ing arms can be spared for the army. Another 
consideration of no little significance is the amount 
of labour done by the negro slaves. In the South 
the slaves of both sexes are employed, the females 
working in the fields as well as ' in- doors.' The 
negro children, too, are not left without employment 
of a light kind. In the North, on the other hand, 
the white females are employed only with their 
domestic concerns, or in the factories, and the chil- 
dren must spend a part of their time in the schools. It 
will thus be obvious, that the amount of agricultural 
labour done by 4,000,000 of slaves in the South is, 
cceteris ijarihus^ much greater than that performed by 
a white population of the same numbers in the North. 
For these reasons, the difference in the number of 
men that may be spared for the army from both 
sections respectively is nothing like so great, as the 
disproportion of population would, at first sight, 
appear to indicate. 



II. The Navy. 

It cannot be denied that the North possesses in its 
navy an immense superiority over the South. Almost 
the whole of the- former navy of the United States 
remained in the hands of the North; though its 



110 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

efficiency was considerably impaired by the large 
number of Southern naval officers that resigned upon 
the secession of their respective States. 

But little discernment is necessary to discover that, 
^vith a navy like that of the North, under ordinary 
circumstances, immense injury may be inflicted upon 
another commercial power. From this point of view, 
however, the South has but little to fear, not possess- 
ing a commercial navy which the armed navy of the 
North might destroy. The action of the Northern 
navy is, then, limited to two fields of operation ; the 
one to maintain a blockade of the Southern ports, 
the other for hostilities against the seaport cities. 
One of the first measures of war undertaken by the 
North was the proclamation of a blockade of the 
entire coast of the seceded States. At that time the 
navy was notoriously insufficient for keeping up an 
effective blockade of a coast, with an extent of more 
than 2,400 miles, abounding in bays and creeks, which 
are navigable only for ships of light tonnage. The 
difficulty of such an undertaking, with even a much 
larger navy than that with which the North set the 
blockade on foot, cannot fail to be perceived by 
everyone; for the almost numberless points of en- 
trance for ships would render any but a navy of the 
first class totally incompetent. According to the 
international law of Europe, as laid down in the 
protocol of Paris, a blockade to be binding must be 



BLOCKADE AND THE FEDERAL NAVY. Ill 

effective. That the blockade of the Southern States 
for a long time could not pretend to be anything like 
effective, is evident from the fact that, between the 
proclamation of it and the following month of No- 
vember, more than five hundred ships of all sizes did 
successfully pass through it; while the number of 
captures made during the same period was altogether 
inconsiderable. Was it not, therefore, pure forbear- 
ance on the part of the European powers to have 
acknowledged and respected the paper-blockade for 
so long a time? In the desperate effort to render the 
blockade of the Southern ports real, by sinking ves- 
sels laden with stone in the harbours, a tangible evi- 
dence was afforded of the incaj)acity of the Federal 
Government to accomplish what it had undertaken. 
No comment is necessary upon the infamy of this 
proceeding, which, b)^ subjecting the North to the 
just execration of the civilised world, has been far 
more injurious to its cause than to the harbours of 
the South. 

The Federal Government perceived at an early day 
the advantages that might result from a fleet of gun- 
boats, operating on the great rivers that traverse the 
South in every direction; the navy-yards and docks 
were in their own hands, and every facility for rapidly 
constructing a river-navy was at their disposal. 
Accordingly, we find that no time was lost in the 
execution of this project; in less than a year a large 



112 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

number of gun-boats, some iron-cased, started down 
the Mississippi, cooperating with the land-forces. 
The first victory achieved by this new arm of the 
service was the capture of Fort Donnelson. But in 
the meantime the regular navy of the North has been 
increased to such an extent, that the blockade is no 
longer a purely paper one, though certainly not per- 
fect ; at all events, the favourable moment for ceasing 
to respect it, when it was notoriously ridiculous, has 
glided out of the hands of the Great Powers of Europe. 
The indulgence accorded to an insolent power is now 
reacting upon the nations that granted it. 

For all purposes of naval . warfare the South can 
scarcely be said to possess any means of resistance 
to the North. Still, important results for defence 
have been achieved by the improvised navy of the 
South. The exploits of the 'Virginia' ('Merrimac') 
and ' Arkansas' are familiar; whilst the damage in- 
flicted on Northern commerce by the ' Sumter,' 
'Nashville,' and 'Alabama' is clearly visible in the 
rates of insurance demanded for Northern vessels. 
Indeed, the insecurity of Northern commerce is 
already so great, that trade between America and 
Europe is being rapidly transferred to English 
bottoms. Here, then, is the vulnerable part of the 
Northern navy, and the South will endeavour to 
profit by it. Nevertheless, the inequality existing 
between the two belligerents in this branch of the 



MATERIAL RESOURCES. 113 

resources of war, is too great to justify the hope of 
its being removed within any short period; yet the 
South is making every effort to remove the difficulty 
under which it labours. 



IIL Material Resources. 

It has already been observed that in the North t,he 
army has to be recruited from the male population 
between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, 
the same body of men that constitute the usual 
labouring classes. The whole of this population 
must render military duty on occasion, it is true; 
but the wealthy classes are virtually exempt, because 
it is at their option to procure substitutes. Conse- 
quently, the soldiers must chiefly consist of actual 
labourers. Now, these are composed of the agricul- 
tural classes, the operatives, and those in the cities 
employed in various commercial callings. As regards 
the quality of an army composed of such material, 
it will be conceded that the strongest and ablest 
soldiers are always those accustomed to out-door 
pursuits — the cultivators of the soil. But just this 
population is least of all represented in the Northern 
army. The manner of recruiting makes this almost 
inevitable. When a certain number of troops are to 
be raised, they are apportioned to the diiFerent 

I 



114 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

States ; and the Governor of each State is tlien called 
upon to raise the quota assigned to it. Hereupon 
the Governor issues a call for volunteers; and it is 
only when these are not forthcoming that the con- 
scription is put in force. But as in time of war the 
natural tendency of agricultural products is to become 
dearer, the occupation of agriculture becomes more 
profitable, and agricultural labour accordingly ad- 
vances in price. This circumstance tends to prevent 
such labourers from enlisting in the army. On the 
other hand, the numerous factories which have been 
closed on account of the want of a supply of material, 
and of markets for manufactured articles, have been 
forced to discharge their operatives. Thus a very 
large class without employment has been thrown 
upon the North ; and of these the army has, in a great 
degree, been composed. Inactivity in trade, also, 
has turned vast numbers out of employment in the 
cities. Rather than starve, large numbers from these 
two classes of the population have been induced to 
enter the army to obtain a support. Yet this has 
not been unattended Avith symptoms pregnant of 
trouble for the Government. The recruits have in 
many instances given visible evidence of a disposition 
to force the Federal Government to do more than 
pay for their services. Meetings have been held, 
and resolutions passed, declaring it to be tlie duty of 
the Government to support the starving famihcs of 



FEDERAL CREDIT AND CONSCRirTlON. 115 

its soldiers. Nor lias the Government been able to 
extricate itself from the difficulty; in the form of 
unprecedented bounties, the Government has been 
compelled to acquiesce in demands made upon it. 
But the continuation of this is dependent upon the 
ability to pay the bounties. As long as the Federal 
Government has credit, it can continue to pay its 
soldiers ; but as soon as this fails, it will be seen that 
the patriotism of the North will not be sufficient to 
fill up the thinned ranks of its army. Conscription 
may be resorted to, as already decided upon some 
months since, but the obstacles to its execution will 
be found almost insuperable. Wherever it has been 
attempted to enforce it as yet, violent resistance has 
been offered and bloody riots have occurred. Thus 
all will depend upon the finances of the North. Love 
for the Union may be never so strong in the North : 
but men love their wives and children more ; they 
will not leave these at home to starve, and the interests 
of self-preservation will triumph. In this Vv^ay the 
North may find itself compelled to terminate the 
war, in order to prevent revolution at home. 

Trade is now stagnant, except in the necessaries 
for carrying on the w^ar. The finances of the North 
are also tottering and must soon crumble; the ex- 
penses of the war are daily increasing, and no means 
of defraying them have been devised. It is true that 
the Federal Congress has passed laws for levying a 

I 2 



116 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

direct tax, but not a dollar has been raised in this 
Way as yet. 

At the commencement of the war the banks were 
the supporters of the Government ; indeed, they had 
no choice, for their very existence was in the hands 
of a lawless government. But, with an outlay of 
20,000,000^, per month, the resources of the banks 
were soon exhausted. Resort was then had to a 
' popular loan,' which, with the duties raised by the 
Morrill tariff-bill, still failed to supply the steadily 
increasino" demands of the Government. Lonsr be- 
fore the expenses of the war became so enormous, 
at the time of the discussion of the budget for the 
financial year from July 1861 to 1862, Mr. Chase 
estimated the necessary expenses at 109,000,000/.; 
of this sum only 66,000,000/. had been provided 
for by the ingenious devices of the Secretary of the 
Treasury. According to Mr. Chase's statements, 
he expected at that time a deficit of 43,000,000/. for 
the first year of the war ; and he confessed that 
only 6,400,000/. could be hoped for from duties. 

But the patriotism, wealth, and banks of the North 
were not sufficient. Mr. Chase was finally compelled 
to propose a direct tax, which, it was calculated, 
would yield 4,000,000/., and an income tax pro- 
ducing 2,000,000/. more. Still the execution of the 
law imposing these taxes has not yet been attempted ; 
but when the taxgatherer does commence to make 



FEDERAL FINANCIAL SCHEMES, 117 

his calls, and put his finger in the pockets of the 
Yankee, the latter will soon cry Peace, unless he 
shall have changed his nature. 

One of Mr. Chase's first schemes for raising a part 
of the 43,000,000^. wanting, was to substitute for the 
circulating medium of the banks a Federal currency 
to the amount of 30,000,000/., which should be con- 
vertible into Federal securities. It was proposed, 
on the one hand, to substitute Avorse securities for 
the existing ones of the bank-currencies; whilst, on 
the other, the destruction of the financial systems in 
the individual States must have been the result. 
How this plan could have improved the state of 
affairs we have never been able to discover. 

Finally, Congress made Federal paper a legal 
tender with a forced circulation. Thus at last 
Mr. Chase was enabled to meet his demands, finding- 
it incomparably easier to print money than to raise 
it by taxation. Gradually the expenses of the w^ar 
have increased to such an extent that these facilities 
for creating money do not suffice. At first this 
system worked well enough, but repeated issues 
of paper caused the new legal tender to depreciate. 
Paper still retains its nominal value, if you please ; 
but gold has advanced by reason of the ' cheapness 
of money.' As might easily have been anticipated, 
the result of such a reckless system of finance has 
been to flood the country with a currency now worth 



118 THE SECOND WAR OF IKDEPENDENCE. 

only about two-tliircls of its nominal value, and to 
drive gold and silver out of circulation. 

According to the best means of judging, the 
debt of the Federal Government already exceeds 
400,000,000/., and is increasing at the rate of 
20,000,000?. per month; while no way of raising 
an amount for paying the interest on it has been 
discovered. Well may the financial system of the 
Federal Government be designated as reckless and 
ruinous. It is attemj^ted to obtain money for con- 
ducting the war by loan, or otherwise ; but no ade- 
quate measures are adopted for paying the interest or 
gradually discharging the debt. Certainly it does 
appear as if the Government only tried to satisfy 
present want, leaving the future to take care of itself. 

Sooner or later resort must be had to a foreign 
loan; but this will be attended with no result, for 
the capitalists of Europe are not inclined to take 
the risk of such a loan, made by the Federal Govern- 
ment upon the faith of thirty-four States, when, 
under the most fortunate circumstances, it must be 
borne by twenty States. There is no confidence 
felt in Europe in the administration of the Federal 
finances, for reasons just given; besides, all the 
efibrts made to dispose of Federal securities in 
Europe since the war have proved fruitless. In 
fact, the Government of Washington is already 
bankrupt, although every effort is made to conceal 



MEANS OF SUBSISTENCE IN THE SOUTH. 119 

it. This state of affairs cannot last much longer, for 
the true condition will ere long be known every- 
where. Moreover, who would be disposed to lend 
money to the Union, when there is every reason 
to believe that, in the event of a war with one of the 
European powers, the private capital possessed by it 
in American funds would be confiscated? 

What a different picture does the South present! 
Here all personal interests are forgotten in the 
sacrifices made for the public weal. The South- 
erners are firmly united, resolved, if necessary, to 
sacrifice everything to the attainment of their in- 
dependence. 

None of the statements made about the starving 
of the Southern people have any foundation in truth ; 
for the South is an agricultural region which pro- 
duces not only enough cereals and other means of 
subsistence for its own use, but exports, as every 
well-informed person is aware, large quantities to 
the North and abroad. The income from its exports 
of meal, rice, beans, wheat, hogs, and cattle is very 
considerable. Any one acquainted with the varied 
nature of the soil of the South knows that it is 
simply absurd to reason about the danger of the 
South starving; more especially now that the ex- 
port of its productions has ceased, whereas the 
quantity has increased, the war having had little 
influence to derange the system of involuntary labour. 



120 THE SECOND WAR OF INDErENDENCE. 

Whoever may be disposed to doubt these statements 
is referred to the statistics of tlie United States, 
carefully collated by Mr. Hopkins* in his intro- 
duction to the ' South Vindicated.' The South pos- 
sesses also minerals in abundance, as iron and lead ; 
as well as a number of excellent manufactories of 
arms. The foundries of Richmond were among the 
most celebrated in America, and the best cannon 
furnished to the Federal Government were manu- 
factured there. These, with others in diiFerent parts 
of the South, are now capable of supplying all the 
necessities of the Government. The South, although 
possessing considerable munitions of war on the 
commencement of hostilities, was not as well pro- 
vided with them as the Northern Government then 
asserted ; nor were these by any means sufficient for 
a war of the magnitude of the present one. But 
since that time large numbers of arms have been 
imported from Europe, despite the blockade; these, 
with the supplies manufactured at home, and the 
enormous quantities captured from the enemy, leave 
the South in no want of arms at this time. 

No reference has been made to the armament of 
the North before, because it was self-evident that 
with its navy any quantity of munitions might be 
obtained from Europe, as long as the peace was not 
interrupted. Now, however, the ' Alabama ' has 

* Williams, 'The South Vindicated,' pp. xll. — xlv. 



SELF-SACRIFICE OF THE SOUTHERNERS. 121 

appeared on the stage of action, by which event the 
certainty of obtaining supplies from Europe has been 
jeopardised. Indeed, it is asserted that the Xorth, 
having lost such immense military stores during the 
war, is at present sadly in want of arms for its new 
levies. All kinds of munitions are now manufactured 
in the South, so that the blockade is incapable of 
inflicting vital injury in that direction. 

Undoubtedly, the South has suffered much from 
the blockade ; but the representations made by the 
North of the suffering in the Southern army for 
clothino; and the means of subsistence, are irross 
exaggerations. For reasons already intimated, the 
Southern soldiers demand only arms and support, 
and a large proportion of them refuse to accept any 
pay whatever from the Government ; while thousands 
of wealthy officers and privates have united to defray 
the whole expense of the organization and support of 
entire regiments. Every house contributes to the 
comfort of the soldiers, and there is no reason that 
the army should suffer from any great want. Con- 
vinced that the war is prosecuted for their o-\vn 
interests and welfare, the Southerners vie with each 
other in the liberality of their contributions for the 
support of their defenders, and for the aid of the 
Government, in order to relieve it of as much ex- 
pense as possible. For it is quite indifferent whether 
the means for the support of the army, or money for 



122 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

obtaining them, be contributed; in the first instance 
the necessity for money is in a great degree obviated. 
An example of the extent of the voluntary aid 
alForded to the Government in the form of articles 
of subsistence, may be seen in the contributions 
from the city of Xew Orleans during the month of 
October before its capture ; these amounted to 
200,000/., and were designed exclusively for the 
army in Virginia, account being taken of no contri- 
bution under the value of 20/. Articles of luxury 
are, then, the principal things, of which much want 
is felt. 

It has already been mentioned that the system of 
involuntary labour in the South has not been de- 
ranged by the war. It may. now be added that 
before the commencement of hostilities, as constantly 
since, the North has threatened the South with a 
slave insurrection ; on the breaking out of the war, 
or latest upon the approacli of a Northern army, the 
slaves, it was asserted, would rise, nmrder their 
masters, and burn their houses. The Southerners 
have never feared such a result ; and experience has 
confirmed their opinions, while proving the error of 
the North. As long ago as November 1861, the 
'■ Journal of Commerce,' a New York organ of Lin- 
coln's party, confessed the hopelessness of expect- 
ing the cooperation of the slaves. It spoke as fol- 
lows : — 



NO DANGER OF SLAVE-INSURRECTIONS. 123 

' General Halleck has issued orders, tliat in con- 
sequence of important information respecting tlie 
numbers and condition of our forces being conveyed 
to the enemy by fugitive slaves, no such person shall 
hereafter be permitted to enter the lines of any camp, 
or any forces on the march, and any now within 
such lines to be immediately excluded therefrom. 
* * * At fortress Monroe too, it was discovered 
very soon after the breaking out of hostilities that 
the negroes were secretly giving information to the 
enemy. If tliis is the way the black population of 
the South serve the cause of the Union, the less we 
have of them the better. * * * In the many dis- 
cussions which the slave-question has brought about, 
there has not as yet been elicited a particle of evi- 
dence that the slaves of the South would accept 
freedom and arms, or would fight for the Union 
against their masters.' 

Apart from the well-known devotion and attacli- 
ment of the slaves to their masters, a slave-insurrec- 
tion would be impossible, on account of the absence 
of all means of connnunication between the plan- 
tations ; but were a general conspiracy conceivable, 
the execution of it would be impracticable, for the 
slaves have no arms; and if they had arms^ they 
would not know how to use them. We do not deny 
that in remote sections the presence of a Northern 
army might be able to intimidate many slaves, and 



124 THE SECOND WAH OF INDEPENDENCE. 

induce others to commit barbarities, but these would 
be rare exceptions. Moreover, the Northern army 
has so far demonstrated its inability to penetrate 
into the interior, in order to place arms in the hands 
of the slaves. 

Upon comparing the financial system of the South 
with that of the North, we are struck with the con- 
trast between the amounts of their respective debts, 
and the rates of monthly expenditure. The debt of 
the Confederate States amounts to 69,000,000^. 
against 400,000,000/. on the part of the United 
States; the monthly expenditure of the former is 
about 5,000,000/., while that of tlie latter is 
20,000,000/. But the chief difference between the 
two systems consists in the fact that the South has 
resolved to raise by direct taxation the means neces- 
sary for conducting the war. To this the Southerners 
readily submit, because the nature of their produc- 
tions is such that they can support a much higher 
rate of taxation than the North. A few years of 
prosperity after the war will suffice to remove all 
traces of the temporary sufferings produced by it. 

In conclusion, the South is by no means in such a 
forlorn condition as has been depicted; but were its 
condition never so bad, the Southerners are deter- 
mined to endure every privation, rather than submit 
to the North; they have made this a popular war, 
in which every individual is directly interested. 



DISCIPLINE OF THE FEDEEAL ARSIY. 125 

IV. Army-Organization. 

One of the principal causes of the numerous de- 
feats which the Northern army has experienced, and 
of the corresponding successes of the Southern army, 
lies in the difference of their respective organiza- 
tion. 

In the North the suppression of the ' rebellion ' 
■\vas at first regarded as a tiling of no great difficulty, 
as seen in the fact that Lincoln limited his first call 
for men to seventy-five thousand. It will be remem- 
bered how volunteers flocked to Washington, in 
response to this call, for a three months' service in 
the district of Columbia in defence of the capital. 
The behaviour of these volunteers, a few days before 
they were led on Manassas, is familiar to all. Several 
regiments ran away the day before the battle, and 
others still left the field during the battle, and 
marched home, because their term of service had 
expired on that day. The North profited by this 
experience, and recruited its subsequent levies for . 
three years; but still the other great defects of 
organization were not remedied by this act. 

We repeat only the statements of the press, and of 
the officers of the regular army of the North, when 
we characterize the discipline of the Federal army as 
entirely unworthy of respect. There exists a lawless 
spirit throughout, and an impatience of subordination 



126 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

that amounts too often to mutiny. Between the 
officers and soldiers of the old regular army and 
those of the militia, there is an irreconcilable enmity ; 
and constant difficulties are arising out of the impla- 
cable hatred between the native-born and naturalized 
soldiers. The Northern Government asserts that the 
men composing its army are not to be surpassed in 
t]ie qualities proper to a soldier; whereas throughout, 
the army the absence of subordination and respect 
for superiors, and the want of warlike pride and a 
military spirit, are notorious. The prevalence of 
drunkenness, the general disposition to dissipation, 
and the slight appreciation of the point of honour, so 
indispensable to the soldier, are qualities appertaining 
to the majority of the Northern soldiers. From the 
beginning of the war there has been notoriously a 
great ^vant of competent officers for training tlie 
troops; the volunteers are commanded chiefly by 
civilians and politicians, who have entered the army 
to acquire political influence; the ignorance of the 
men in the use of arms constitutes a serious difficulty 
in the way of rapid organization; and, finally, the 
men are not influenced by that determination and 
self-devotion which animate the hearts of those 
fiMitimr for their homes. ]\Iob-rule, and the fact 
that the army consists chiefly of men destitute of 
means, and without employment, who must be paid 
extravag-ant bounties for fiGjlitin"^, as well as the 



CHARACTER OF THE TEDERAL ARMY. 127 

established incapacity of the generals and field 
officers, are sufficient reasons for considering an 
army, so organized, totally incompetent for subju- 
gating the South. As might well be expected of such 
an army, it brings robbery, theft, violence, and murder 
in its train, and has left the most infamous traces 
of barbarism behind it, wherever it has appeared. 
In fact, the notion of the essential requisites of a 
soldier seems to be entirely unknown in the North. 

When the war broke out, the North was entirely 
without any commissarj^-department and train of 
importance; and the Federal Government had to 
contend with unusual difficulties in supplying the 
army with arms, clothing and the means of subsist- 
ence, because it was the prey of numberless specu- 
lators, and plunderers of the public treasury. Nor 
was it possible to send to Europe for better and cheaper 
materials, until after the last home -made articles had 
been exhausted ; for the mob of Northern contractors 
and manufacturers would submit to no competition. 

If we compare the Southern army with that of the 
North, it is not because the comparison is justifiable, 
but merely to exhibit the immeasurable difference 
between them. With few exceptions, the Southern 
army has consisted all the time of troops enlisted 
for the war; there has been no necessity for con- 
scription, except to regulate the number of men to 



128 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

be taken from the different States and counties, for it 
was discovered at an early day that entire districts 
were in danger of being depopulated. The Con- 
scription Act as passed, and carried into operation in 
the South, proposed only to make the burden of 
military service uniform. 

There has been no lack of competent and able 
field and regimental officers in the Southern army. 
Formerly there was a large number of Southern 
officers in the Federal army, but these remaining 
loyal to their respective States, resigned their com- 
missions, and §ntered the service of the Confederate 
States. It is not denied, even by the North, that the 
best officers of the old regular army were these same 
Southerners. 

Little need be said about the skill of the Southern 
generals. This has formed the theme of admira- 
tion in Europe ever since the breaking out of the 
war ; and they have won the respect of the most 
distinguished military men in the whole world. Their 
ability has been attested most fully in the results 
of the battles that have been fought. 

A well-known assertion of the Korth was that the 
Southerners would not submit to strict military dis- 
cipline. Experience has j^i'oved the contrary, and 
the South exhibits in its army, consisting to a great 
extent of the best and wealthiest citizens, a picture 
almost without a parallel in history. The Southerners 



DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUTHERN ARMY. 129 

have, from infancy, been accustomed to the use of 
arms, and to live a great deal in the open air ; habit- 
uated to govern their slaves, they have learnt the 
importance of subordination, and therefore subject 
themselves with the greatest ease and willingness to 
the severe discipline of the army. Mutiny and every- 
thing approaching to it are unknown in the Southern 
army ; whereas it is notorious that, in repeated in- 
stances, entire regiments in the Northern army have 
been disarmed and disbanded on this account; and 
the Northern press, fettered as it is, still gives fre- 
quent information of instances in which soldiers or 
oificers have shot their superiors. Cases of this kind 
are unheard of in the South. 

A Ithough the want of a train has been felt in the 
South, still the necessity for it is not so great as in 
the North. The want has partially been supplied; 
to this the stores captured from the enemy have con- 
tributed no inconsiderable part. Unfortunately, the 
seat of war is on Southern soil, but this obviates the 
pressing necessity for a train adapted to the wants of 
an invading army; moreover, the network of rail- 
roads which form the internal means of communica- 
tion and transportation, supply to a considerable 
degree the ordinary demand for a train. 

In connexion with the enthusiasm of the Southern 
army, there exists on the part of the troops unlimited 
confidence in the capacity of their leaders, as weU as 

K 



130 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

in their own superiority over the Northern soldiers. 
Nor have the results of the two campaigns now ended, 
in which the North has accomplished nothing of im- 
portance, failed to establish an immense superiority 
for the South. The capacity of both armies will, 
however, be judged by their performances; and from 
this point of view the Southern army has no reason 
to envy the army of the North. 

Y. Duration of the War. 

From the foregoing considerations, it may be as- 
sumed, we think, that, although the South must 
necessarily suffer many disadvantages from a war of 
such magnitude, yet it possesses the capacity and the 
means for conducting a war of defence for an almost 
unlimited time. The North, on the other hand, is 
forced to terminate the war in a decided manner 
Avithin a short period, for its finances will soon be 
exhausted. 

Signs of future troubles already manifest them- 
selves unmistakably between the ' Democratic ' and 
' Republican ' parties ; and the best interpreters of 
puljlic opinion in America declare that the late tri- 
umph of the former party seals the doom of Lincoln 
' and his political associates. 

There is no unity of counsel and of purpose in the 
cabinet of President Lincoln, the members of which 



WHY THE WAR MUST SOON TERMINATE. 131 

are in open opposition to each other as regards the 
object of the war and the means to be employed in 
conducting it. Generals are promoted and, when 
defeated, are degraded, perhaps to be promoted and 
de2;raded ao;ain. 

Socialism has raised its head in New England, and 
among the foreign population of the North. 

The depressing moral influence of repeated reverses 
in the field and of constantly increasing poverty 
offers a good occasion for the developement of discord, 
and incites the parties against each other, causing 
the one to attribute their misfortunes to the other. 
These raging domestic dissensions indicate already 
clearly enough the growth, and not remote outbreak,, 
of a revolution in the North. 

Long campaigns in the South are impossible, on 
account of the climate; because during the excessive 
heats of summer warlike operations are attended by 
the most fearful mortality; whereas, in the more 
northern parts, the roads are rendered impassable for 
artillery and baggage almost in the beginning of 
winter. On the other hand, the extent of the coun- 
try is so great, and its population comparatively so 
thin, that a short war is absolutely necessary for the 
invader, if anything at all is to be accomplished. 

♦ From this examination it becomes evident why the 
Federal Government, in fault of an inspiring idea for 
the war, as exists in the South, resorts to all kinds 



x62 THE SECOND "WAR OF INDEPENDEXCE. 

of false pretexts to excite the popular passions, and 
produce an enthusiasm for the war. So we find that 
on the one hand the Minister for War proposes to 
arm the slaves, and turn them loose against their 
masters; on the other, the demagogues proclaim to 
the people that nothing can be accomplished by the 
war without the emancipation of the entire African 
race in America. This is a very open confession, but 
has no importance except for exciting the popular 
feeling. And now that the emancipation of the slaves 
has, in reality, been decided upon by the Republican 
President, the act can only be regarded as the ex- 
pression of a spirit of diabolical revenge, and as an 
indication of unpardonable puerility, since its execu- 
tion is impossible. Finally, it was for the same 
reason that the Washington Government spared no 
pains to produce the false im2:)ression among the 
Northern people, that the majority of the people in 
every Southern State, South Carolina probably ex- 
cepted, were devoted to the Union, but were over- 
powered by an armed faction, and would welcome 
the approach of a Federal army. AVithout i^esort to 
such means of exciting the popular feeling, or with- 
out speedy victory, Lincoln will before long be com- 
pelled by the conservative party in the Korth to 
conclude a peace. « 

The South is aware of these facts, and knows that 
it has nothing to fear from a long war, because its 
enemy will be utterly ruined by it. 



133 



CHAPTER V. 



ISSUE OF THE WAK. 



Few indeed will have the hardihood now to assert 
that the causes of the antipathy between the North 
and the South can be removed by the present war. 
On the contrary, the war has aroused all the just 
indignation of the Southerners, and excited their 
passions to the highest point; and not only has the 
former limited confidence in the North been de- 
stroyed, but, in the place of their former antipathy 
for the Yankees, a deadly and inextinguishable hate 
has sprung up. 

Should the South be re-incorporated into the Union 
by force, it cannot be expected that the people that 
have waged such a ruthless war against the South- 
erners would ever allow them the exercise of their 
former constitutional rights; or that those Avho are 
now designated as traitors would ever be permitted, 
if so disposed, to sit in Congress, and take part in 
the councils of the Union with those whose loyalty 
has never been impeached. With the triumph of 
the North would vanish the former constitutional 



134 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 



character of the Federal Government, which was based 
upon * the consent of the governed.' The South, 
foreseeing this, and having learned its strength in its 
victories, is determined to offer resistance, if neces- 
sary, ' till every valley from the Eio Grande to the 
Potomac shall overflow with blood, till every hill- 
top shall be bleached with the bones of Southern 
warriors.' 

The war of 1812 with England demonstrated the 
impossibility of holding such a vast territory in sub- 
jection : nor will the difficulty be less for the North 
than it was for Great Britain; for the North is not 
now in such a condition to wao;e war ao:ainst the 
South, as Great Britain was at that time to carry on 
war with the United States, The occupation of any 
point whatever will not put an end to the war; and 
should the Southern army be annihilated, of which 
there is little danger, the real difficulties will then 
only commence. A Guerilla would be instituted, by 
which the North would finally be compelled to make 
peace. 

At the present moment, the Government of the 
Confederate States of America is conducted with 
order and dignity. In the individual States the 
different functions of government are exercised as 
quietly as before the breaking out of the war. It 
has not been found necessary to suspend the privi- 
lege of the writ of habeas- corpus, to suppress news- 



INTERVENTION NOT DESIRED. 135 

papers, or to arrest and imprison individuals without 
trial, for the sake of preserving order. 

The Confederate States exhibit the picture of a 
well-organised Government, which exists not only 
de jure, as we have tried to show, but also de facto. 
No intervention of the European Powers is desired 
by this Government to secure its permanence. It 
is strong enough to maintain its independence 
unassisted. 



136 



CHAPTER VI. 

AFRICAN SLAVERY.* 

I. General Observations. 

Twenty negroes, which were brought to Virginia in 
a Dutch man-of-war from Africa in 1620, formed the 
germ of the slave-population in the North American 
Republics. From this time the trade in slaves be- 
tween Africa and America was continued till the 
year 1807. During this period slavery was intro- 
duced into all of the original thirteen States, f The 
entire number of slaves imported into the United 
States from Africa is estimated at 330,000. They 
belonged chiefly to the tribes of the Mandingoes, 
Koromantj^ns, Fidahs, Eboes, Fantis, Ashantis, 

• We take pleasure in acknowledging our indebtedness to the excel- 
lent work of the Hon. T. 11. R. Cobb, An Inquiry into the Laic of Negro 
Slavery in America (Philadelphia and Savannah, 1858), for much accu- 
rate and scientific information respecting the history and laws of slavery 
in Americn. Those disposed to pursue their inquiries in this direction 
will find much that is valuable in this work to repay the trouble of con- 
sulting it. 

f It is not unusual to hear it asserted that slavery never existed in 
JMassachusetts. According to the census of 1754, there were in that 
State 2,448 slaves over 16 years of age, of which 1,000 were in Boston, 
See also Ilildreth, History of the United States^ vol. i. p, 419. 



THE SLAVE TKADE. 137 

Krumen, Quaquas, and Congoes, and were held in bond- 
age in their native country. In coming to America, 
these savages only exchanged barbarian for civilized 
masters. It is scarcely neoessary to speak of the 
sufferings of the ' middle-passage ' and other enormi- 
ties with which the slave-trade was attended. Within 
the last half century the evils committed during the 
two previous centuries have found their condemnation 
among the nations that caused them. It is true, the 
advantages of the cruel system had been reaped, but 
it was better to abandon the ' nefarious traffic ' late 
than never. 

After the recognition of the independence of the 
United States, it was proposed by the Convention that 
framed the constitution, to abolish the trade in slaves 
between Africa and America. It was objected, how- 
ever, that the shipping interests of the Northern 
States would suffer to too great an extent, should 
the trade be stopped suddenly. Massachusetts in- 
sisted most strongly, along with Georgia and South 
Carolina, that the trade should be continued for a few 
years to come. In conformity with this proposition, 
the year 1808 was fixed upon for the termination of 
the slave trade. It did actually cease in 1807, one 
year earlier than originally intended. 

Yermont was the first State to decree the abolition 
of slavery within its limits j and by the Bill of Rights 
adopted in 1777 slavery was excluded from that 



138 THE SECOND WAR OF IXDEPENDEXCE. 

State. In 1790 there were only seventeen slaves in 
Vermont to take advantage of this generous measure. 
Slavery was abolished successively by all the States, 
until the institution wa^ limited to the fifteen Southern 
States. Nevertheless, as late as 1840 there were 
five slaves in Rhode Island, seventeen in Connecticut, 
one in New Hampshire, sixty-four in Pennsylvania, 
four in New York, and six hundred and seventy-four 
in New Jersey.* Slavery was abolished in all the 
Northern States by ' gradual emancipation,' a period 
having been fixed upon, after which all issue of the 
slaves were to be free. These plans, being all pro- 
spective, allowed ample time for transporting the slaves 
from the North to the Southern States, where, in fact, 
most of them were sold. Care was also taken to 
fix the dates of emancipation sufficiently distant, to 
avoid the depreciation in value that would have 
resulted from forcing the entire slave-population of 
the North upon the Southern market within too 
short a space of time. It is well known that the 
gradual abolition of slavery in the North was not 
the result of philanthropy ; but it took place purely 
from considerations of expediency; partly because 
the climate had been found unadapted to the negro ; 
and partly on account of the comparatively limited 
extent of the real estate in the hands of single in- 
dividuals, which rendered the employment of small 

* United States Census of 1840. 



EXPEDIENCY THE CAUSE OF NORTHERN ABOLITION. 139 

numbers of slaves less profitable than in the South, 
where organised labour on the plantations was ex- 
tremely remunerative. Another motive was the 
sufficiency of white labour in the North, which by 
competition made slave labour too dear; whereas the 
scarcity of white labour in the South made the 
demand for slaves very great. Nor did the abolition 
of slavery in the North propose conferring upon the 
negroes an equality with the free white citizens, but 
consisted only in the prohibition to hold slaves after 
a specified time; consequently, the majority of the 
slaves found masters in the South, and the few that 
were emancipated never obtained the right of citizen- 
ship, except in Vermont. The number of slaves 
have increased to 3,952,801 according to the census 
of 1860. 

Nothing is more natural than the repugnance of 
Europeans of the present day for the word slavery. 
When, however, the actual condition of the African 
slaves in the Southern States is examined, much of 
the antipathy to the system of slavery in America 
will be discovered to be unfounded. 

Slavery in America may be considered from two 
points of view — on the one hand, as a social^ on the 
other, as a iiolitical relation. Regarded from the 
first point of view, slavery is decidedly patriarchal. 
The head of the family is the slaveowner or master, 
while the slaves are incorporated into the family. 



14:0 THE SECOND WAK OF INDEPENDENCE. 

The wife and children excepted, the slaves claim the 
chief care and attention of the head of the family. 
Interest and feeling unite to induce the master to 
bestow the greatest kindness and protection upon his 
dependents ; and, in this way, a more intimate bond 
of aifection is created than is possible between the 
master and hireling in any country. The master is, 
at the same time, the protector, confidant, and friend 
of his slaves, and must afford them clothing, support, 
medical attention, and religious instruction. The 
children of the slave-proprietor grow up with those 
of the slaves, so that from the earliest youth there 
exists a mutual affection between the future master 
and his slaves. This is the secret of the wonderful 
attachment of the slave, on the one hand, to his 
master, and of the disinclination of the master, on 
the other, to part with his slaves. It is, indeed, a 
common thing for masters to sacrifice property of 
every kind, rather than be separated from their negro 
slaves. A tangible evidence, too, of the contentment 
and devotion of the slaves is to be found in the fact, 
that only one insurrection worthy of the name has 
ever taken place among then. This occurred in Vir- 
ginia, as long ago as the year 1800, and was insti- 
gated by Northern abolitionists, but divulged by 
faithful slaves.* The world has witnessed the 

* See documents In the Richmond Recorder of the 3rd, 6th, and 9th 
of April, 1803. 



MILDNESS OF SOUTHERN SLAVERY. 141 

behaviour of the slaves during the present war ; and 
we venture the assertion, that not only nine-tenths of 
the slaves would voluntarily fight for their masters 
against the Yankees, but that the masters would feel 
no hesitation or apprehension in placing arms in the 
hands of their slaves for defence, should it be found 
necessary. Nor can it be believed that any similar 
population of the same numbers, in any part of the 
world, would have remained so faithfully attached to 
their superiors, when so many and so constant incen- 
diary attempts had been made to seduce them from 
their loyalty. 

A consequence of this patriarchal relation is that 
the separation of the family is rendered incom- 
parably more difficult, and less seldom among the 
negro slaves than among any other labouring class 
of the world. A proof of the mildness of the system 
of slavery in the Southern States is afforded by the 
rapid increase in the number of the slaves; from 
330,000, they have become 4,000,000, and when we 
take all the circumstances into consideration, it 
appears that their rate of increase has been fully 
equal to that of the white population. If we look 
at the free black population of the North, we shall 
find that it falls far behind. According to the 
seventh census, the increase of free blacks, from 1840 
to 1850, was under 1^ per cent, per annum; while 
that of the ne2:ro slaves was but a fraction under 



142 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

3 per cent, per annum. The same authority shows 
that the longevity of the Southern slaves is far 
above that of the free negroes of the Northern States ; 
while there are ' three times as many deaf mutes, 
four times as many blind, more than three times 
as many idiots, and more than ten times as many 
insane, in proportion to numbers, among the free 
coloured persons, than among the slaves.' The 
same holds good with respect to the free blacks of 
Liberia. Few, probably, will be found to dispute 
the assertion that the condition of the negroes under 
the beneficent system of American slavery, is in- 
finitely better than that of their own race in the 
land of „their origin. Although their intellectual 
developement in slavery has been very much ad- 
vanced, the negroes never lose the characteristics 
of their race. But, above all, the moral condition 
of the negroes has been improved by the ameliorating 
influences of slavery. Though gay, affectionate, and 
grateful, they always retain their disposition for 
lust, falsehood, and theft; and while many are 
consistent Christians, they never lose their super- 
stitious nature, and can scarcely be made to ap- 
preciate the immoral nature of certain acts. 

It is not unfrequently objected by the opponents 
of slavery, that the education of tlieir children is not 
left to tlie slaves. However true this may be in 
tlieory, it does not hold true in the case of the 



SLAVE-BREEDING UNKNOWN. 143 

African slaves. For, although the master allows 
the slave-parents the general management of their 
children, his authority is necessary both to give 
effect to that of the parents, and to interpose in case 
of negligence or cruelty, which are characteristic. 
But for this the children would only too often be the 
victims of the passion of their parents. 

It is not denied that the objection, that marriage 
between the slaves is not recognised by law, is better 
founded ; still the separation of man and wife is by no 
means of such often occurrence as is generally be- 
lieved in Europe; and it is almost unknown when 
both husband and wife are the property of the same 
master. Moreover, the general tendency of legisla- 
tion in the Southern States is to prevent, as far as 
possible, the separation of husband and wife, without 
injury to the master, by depriving him of the right 
to rid himself of an unruly or insubordinate slave. 

Prominent among the calumnies against the South 
which have unfortunately obtained credence in Eu- 
rope, is the reproach of 'breeding slaves,' heaped upon 
the Southerners by their enemies, the Northern Abo- 
litionists. We content ourselves here with stigma- 
tizing this assertion as a malicious calumny; for not 
only is ' alave-breeding ' entirely unknown in the 
South, but no such thing has ever existed except in 
the fertile imaginations of the slanderers of the 
Southern people. 



144 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

At the same time, the enemies of the South urge 
that without ' slave-breeding ' there would be no 
material for the 'internal slave-trade' between the 
Southern States. But this is not true; for the in- 
ternal slave-trade is limited partly to the sale of 
insubordinate slaves to other masters, as a penalty, 
which are thereby often rendered obedient and docile ; 
and partly to emigration. In this case, where land 
has become too dear for the small proprietor in 
certain sections, he either disposes of his slaves to 
employ free labour, or emigrates to a new section, 
taking his slaves with him. Indeed, in many States 
there are laws prohibiting the introduction of slaves 
from other States, unless accompanied by their 
masters. The relative increase of the white and slave 
populations in certain States, and the corresponding 
slow increase of both in certain so-called 'slave- 
breeding States,' is a confirmation of this proposition. 

On the other hand, what is the effect of slavery 
upon the slave-owner? It follows as a matter of 
course that, in so far as the master is not prohibited 
by the law, his relation to his slaves is such that he 
may be guilty of inhuman treatment. In another 
place we shall see how far the slave is protected 
against the arbitrary treatment of the master. Here 
it is sufficient to remark that, apart from all legal 
restraints, self-interest is as potent to prevent abuse 
of the slaves, as of any other kind of property, and 



HUMANITY CHARACTERISTIC OF MASTERS. 145 

that cruel treatment of slaves finds as little favour 
with public opinion as in the eyes of the law. No 
character would be less agreeable to a Southerner 
than the reputation of inhumanity towards his slaves. 
To suppose the contrary, were to assume that the 
Southern slave-holders are less civilized than others 
of their species in Europe. It is immaterial whether 
or not the master is in a position to abuse his slaves, 
if he should in passion impose no restraints upon his 
actions, when we reflect that in fact the case rarely, 
if ever, occurs; for in communities where slavery 
does not exist, shnilar cases constantly occur, as 
attested by the criminal returns. In both cases such 
unfortunate instances may be considered the result 
of accident. But, in truth, the slave-holder, who is 
accustomed to govern from his infancy, knoAvs the 
necessity of moderation and kindness, in order to 
preserve subordination and respect among his slaves ; 
and for this reason the slave-holder of the Southern 
States is, in an eminent degree, humane and for- 
bearing. 

The relation of the slave-holder guarantees him a 
purely independent position — allows him leisure 
for devoting his time to literature, science, and 
politics — affords opportunity for improvement of his 
tastes — enables him to reap the benefits of elevated 
social intercourse — and developes in him a more 
acute appreciation of what is noble, while producing 



146 THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

a superior degree of refinement. The spirit of pure 
independence, which mthin proper limits can only 
be ennobling, is what essentially distinguishes the 
Southerner from the Northerner. The celebrated 
statesman, Burke, in speaking of the influence of 
slavery upon the Southern people in regard to their 
love of liberty, remarked — 

' Where this is the case, those who are free are by 
far the most proud and jealous of their freedom. I 
cannot alter the nature of man. The fact is so ; and 
these people of the Southern colonies are much more 
strongly, and with a higher and more stubborn 
spirit, attached to liberty than those to the North- 
ward. Such were all the ancient commonwealths, 
such were our Gothic ancestors, and such in our day 
were the Poles. Such will be all masters of slaves 
who are not slaves themselves. In such a people the 
haughtiness of domination combines itself with the 
spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders it invincible.' 
When we reflect that the greatest statesmen of 
America — as Washington, Jeflferson, Madison, Mon- 
roe, Calhoun, and others — were slave-holders, and 
that they were distinguished by their moderation and 
mildness, as well as ardent attachment to freedom, 
we may well entertain a doubt that the influence of 
slavery upon the dominant race in America has 
been pernicious; but the question arises, whether 
slavery is not rather a school for the developement of 



SLAVERY NOT INJURIOUS TO THE WHITES. 147 

virtue in the white race? But we have been told 
that ' there is no difficulty in tracing the injury in- 
flicted by the system upon the master, upon the whole 
white population, or the sinister shadow which it 
casts over the face of society.' And, again, that 
'there is an absolute injury sustained by the whole 
white community, apparent to any observer, and the 
more striking when contrasted with its condition in 
the neighbouring free States.' We beg for indul- 
gence for our presumption, if we choose to challenge 
the truth of this sweeping charge. Is the ' injury of 
the system' visible in the refinement, intelligence, 
energy, courage, self-sacrifice, and perseverance of 
eight millions of Southerners, contending for their 
independence, under untold sufi'erings, against a 
remorseless, but more numerous enemy? Is it ap- 
parent in their regard for order, liberty, and the 
usages of civilization ? Does this evince any degene- 
ration ? Or is ' the absolute injury sustained by 
the whole white community ' observable in the pro- 
portionately greater number of colleges, schools, and 
churches in the South than in the North? Or is it 
rather to be ' observed ' in the fact that the South has 
less than one-fifth as much crime and pauperism, in 
proportion to population, as the North? But, per- 
haps, as it is not visible in the moral or social condition 
of the Southern people, the ' injury of the system ' 
may be found in its eff'ects upon the agricultural 



148 THE SECOND "WAE OF INDEPENDENCE. 

products of the country. Let European industry, 
supplied by it, furnish the reply. It would seem as 
if 'no reasoning, no statistics, no profit, no philo- 
sophy,' could avail against the ^ instincts^ of those 
who, while professing to know the condition of the 
Southern people, deliberately make such unfounded 
statements. 

We hope that we may be borne with, if, in the 
examination of the objections to slavery, our reflec- 
tions should lead us into some details, otherwise out of 
place. No end is heard of the assertion of the Northern 
Abolitionists, that one of the results of slavery is the 
unchastity of the female slaves, accompanied by a 
corresponding want of virtue on the part of the slave- 
holders. We do not deny that, in so far as the 
master abuses his power over his female slaves, to 
make them yield to vicious desires, he is responsible 
and reprehensible. But we do maintain that the 
notorious unchastity of the female slaves is not the 
consequence of slavery, but of their natural disposi- 
tion for lust, which renders force superfluous. Every 
well-informed American knows, too, that cases of the 
application of force on the part of the master to 
seduce his slaves are unheard of, and that no instances 
are known of an abuse of power for such a purpose. 
The cause for this unchastity of the female slaves 
lies deeper : it is to be sought in their natural lewd- 
ness. Who does not know that the sacred obligations 



SLAVERY AS A POLITICAL RELATION. 149 

of man and wife are not respected among the slaves 
themselves? Still more is this true of their race in 
Africa. Indeed, we find a still lower moral condition 
among the free negroes of the Northern States, where 
marriage between the whites and blacks is either j)ro- 
hibited or unknown, than among the slaves, although 
neither the scorching sun of the South is there to 
develope the passion of lust, nor the ' lascivious slave- 
holder ' to accomplish his desires by violence. Ac- 
cording to the United States Census of 1850, of each 
100 persons of the free coloured population, there 
were in Maine 51, New Hampshire 54, Massachu- 
setts 34, Connecticut 30, and Rhode Island 24, 
mulattoes. In Liberia and Sierra Leone the same 
thing is notorious.* 

As a political relation, the slavery of the Southern 
States is a conservative element in the State. First 
of all, the effect of it is to equalize more nearly all 
classes of the dominant race. There are certain 
kinds of menial labour which are never performed 
by the whites, although not slave-holders. Then, 
too, the slave owes a certain respect and obedience 
to every white person, poor or rich. Consequently 
every white man, be he a slave-owner or not, has 
the consciousness that he belongs to the superior 
race. Hence it is that there is no conflict between 
classes in the South. 

* Bowen, ' Centi-al Africa,' p. 32. 



150 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Moreover, there is no conflict between capital and 
labour, for the labourer is himself capital. Among 
the systems of labour in use in Europe this conflict 
is perpetually going on. Brilliant theories have 
been devised to remove the ever-present enmity 
between these two great forces of human progress ; 
but all have been of no avail. The difficulty 
has as yet been obviated only by slavery. 

Again, little attraction is offered for emigration 
to the Southern States, for only capitalists, who may 
acquire property in slaves, find it to their interests 
to emigrate thither. By this means the South has 
been protected from the outpourings of the dregs 
of European society. 

It has been remarked that the situation of the 
slave-owner qualifies him, in an eminent degree, for 
discharging the duties of a free citizen. His leisure 
enables him to cultivate his intellectual powers, and 
his condition of independence places him beyond 
the reach of demagogues and corruption. In this 
way he is preeminently suited for filling the highest 
political stations in the Government. Therefore, 
such positions are not coveted for the income they 
yield, but only out of a patriotic ambition. When 
the slave-owner occupies an official position, he 
receives the acknowledgement of his fellow-citizens, 
who have all the same interests and the same 
opinions as himself Consequently he does not fear 



SLAVE AND FREE LABOUR COMPARED. 151 

to be subverted by the intrigues of demagogues ; and 
political humbug is unknown. 

Slavery is, also, a great protection against pauper- 
ism; for the labouring class, being slaves, must by 
law be supported by their owners.* 

Need it be said that it is not in consequence of 
slave labour, as asserted by Northern Abolitionists, 
that the soil of the South is soon exhausted? The 
kind of crops produced, known as 'clean crops,' cause 
the soil in the South soon to become impoverished, 
unless much attention is paid to enriching it. For 
the naked-ploughed soil is exposed to the scorching 
southern sun for a considerable part of the year, 
which, as every agriculturist is aware, has a most 
deleterious effect upon it. This would hold equally 
true, whether free or slave labour were employed. 

The generally accepted law that free labour is 
cheaper than slave labour, finds no application in the 
South. There is no doubt that where the labouring 
population is very dense, as in certain parts of Europe, 
where the free man must work or starve, free labour 
is cheaper than any other; for no capital is then 
needed to be employed in owning labour. In this 
case free labour must and will drive out involuntary 
labour. But the question assumes quite a different 

* An interesting example is afforded by the Abstract of the Seventh 
Census, p. 28, according to which, in 1850, Rhode Island, with 147,545 
inhabitants, had 2,560 paupers, while Georgia, with a population of 
524,503 free whites, had only 1,036 paupers. 



152 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

j^hase when we attempt to apply the principle to 
labour in the South. In the first place, there is no 
such abundance of free labour to be had there ; while 
the climate makes it almost throughout impossible 
for the white man to work. He cannot support the 
damp hot atmosphere and the miasma of the Sa- 
vannas. Were it, however, possible to acclimatize the 
whites in that region, and were a thick white po- 
pulation to be obtained, such free labour would not 
be adapted to the cultivation of the Southern pro- 
ducts, such as rice, sugar, tobacco, and cotton. A 
species of labour is needed for these productions, 
which is not liable to be disturbed by ' strikes ' or 
accident. It is indispensable to have a system of 
organized, regular, and uninterrupted labour, in order 
to make the production of rice, sugar, tobacco, and 
cotton profitable. If the negro slaves were free, we 
know full well from experience that they would not 
work without compulsion. As long, therefore, as the 
climate of the South remains an insuperable obstacle 
in the way of the white man, and as long as no means 
can be devised for counteracting the natural indolence 
and want of self-respect of the negro, which prefer 
theft to industry, involuntary or slave labour must 
remain the only possible labour for the South, and, 
therefore, the cheapest that can be employed for its 
products. The labour of the South is chiefly of a 
nature which requires physical strength, endurance, 



THE SLAVE ALSO A PEESON. 153 

and uniformity, without the capacity for judgement, 
as in skilled labour. For such labour the African 
slave is alone adapted. 



II. Status of the Slaves. 

With the Eomans, the slave was considered as a 
chattel {res). As such the Roman slave was deprived 
of the right of personal liberty, and the right of 
property. The power of life and death, 'jus vitre 
necisque,' also belonged to the master. 

The status of the slave in the Southern States is, 
on the contrary, a double one. On the one hand, 
the slave is a chattel ; but, on the other, a legal pro- 
tection has been accorded to him, through the instru- 
mentality of Christianity and the developement of 
human civilization, by which his condition has been 
ameliorated materially. The slave is, therefore, by 
reason of his thus modified condition, also a ]?erson^ 
and his legal person is by no means so subordinate as 
is generally supposed in Europe. Prominent is the 
protection accorded to life and to limb. 

Throughout all the States where slavery exists, 
the homicide of a slave is made by law to be murder. 
In the case of the killing of a slave by his master, or 
any other person, the slayer incurs the same penalty 
as if the slave had been a free white. Consequently, 



154 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPEKDENCE. 

it appears that there is no difference at all in the 
legal protection accorded to the life of a slave and of 
a free citizen. The presumption of malice, also, holds 
in the case of the homicide of a slave, and the rule 
with regard to the burden of the proof is identically 
the same as in the homicide of free white persons. 
It will be evident that this rule of the law must react 
with great severity upon the slayer, in cases where 
there are no competent witnesses to the deed, as may 
most likely occur from the private relation of the 
master to his slave, separated from the public view 
on his plantation. Although this legal protection 
of life and personal security is accorded to the slave, 
and becomes thereby a quasi right, his natural con- 
dition, as owing obedience and subordination, does 
not justify him in repelling force by force to the 
same extent, as in the case of a freeman. Still the 
law in its mercy does justify the slave in using 
force to repel force when his life or limb is endan- 
gered, even if in defence he slays the aggressor.* 
To this extent, then, the rule of the civil law — 'vim 
vi defendere, omnes leges omniaque jura permittunt ' 
— is applicable to slaves. 

The slave enjoys the protection of the law not only 
with reference to life, but also against violent and 

* The State v. "Will, a negro, 1 Dev. and Eat. 121-lGo — a celebrated 
case, decided by Judge Gaston ; the case decided by Judge Thatcher ; 
and others cited by Cobb, vol. i. p. 94. 



CRUELTY TO SLAVES PUNISHABLE BY LAW. 155 

cruel treatment. The decision of what constitutes 
cruelty must, in many instances, be left to the de- 
cision of the jury. ' The general principle would be, 
that the master's right to enforce obedience and sub- 
ordination on the part of the slave, should, as far as 
possible, remain intact. Whatever goes beyond this, 
and from mere wantonness or revenge inflicts pain and 
suffering, especially unusual and inhuman punish- 
ments, is cruelty, and should be punished as such. 
And though the statute creating the offence specifies 
particular acts of cruelty, yet it has been held, that 
other acts of cruelty, though of a minor grade than 
those specified, were indictable under the general 
description of cruel punishments.' * 

It is also held that, where a slave is unduly excited 
by the cruel treatment of his master, this circum- 
stance is sufficient to extenuate the offence com- 
mitted under the provocation; and if a homicide 
be committed under these circumstances, the pro- 
vocation serves as a rebuttal of the presumption of 
malice, f 

Legal counsel is afforded the slave in all cases 
where he is accused. The laws of many States 
make it the duty of the Court, ipso jure, to appoint 
counsel for the accused slave; in many others the 
master is required to provide counsel, where he is 

* Cobb, p. 98 ; and the cases there cited, 
f Ibidem. 



156 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

not a party; and, this failing, it is made incumbent 
on the Court. Here the slave is regarded as a ward 
of the Court. 

Having found that the slave is protected as to his 
life and personal security, it remains to be seen how 
far the third great right of a free citizen under the 
Common Law — the right of personal liberty — is 
aiFected by the condition of slavery. Herein is 
visible the great inferiority of the slave to the free- 
man. This is what constitutes him a slave ; he has 
no liberty but that allowed him by his master. 
Without this quality he would, in fact, cease to be a 
slave. But Vvdiile admitting this fact, it must not 
be forgotten that the slave does enjoy a certain 
amount of liberty in the leisure granted to him 
during the Sabbath, the holidays, and the night. 
When his day's labour is over, the negro slave is 
free to enjoy himself in any legitimate way he may 
choose, there being no cares for the morrow to 
impair his pleasures. In fact, the slave does in this 
way enjoy as much, or more, real liberty than the 
free white labourer of the same class in Europe. It 
is hardly necessary to observe that the master has 
a legal right to capture his fugitive slave at any 
time, and wherever he may find him. This right is 
not subject- to the prescription of time. 

As to the nature of the punishments inflicted 
upon slaves convicted of offences, it may be remarked 



OF OFFENCES COMMITTED BY SLAVES. 157 

that, as the slave, from his nature, cannot be reached 
by the ordinary penalties of fine and imprisonment, 
having neither property nor liberty of which he 
may be deprived, his body offers the only means of 
inflicting punishment. Consequently all offences are 
made to fall under two categories, — capital offences 
and offences punishable by whipping.* The opera- 
tion of this principle is to make the punishment for 
many offences much lighter, while, on the other 
hand, some offences are punished with more rigour 
than in the case of free citizens. The policy of the 
law makes this often necessary, and it is exemplified 
in the fact that rape of a white female, arson in 
to"\^^ls, attempts to poison, and insurrection, are made 
capital crimes. Investigation will show, however, 
that the relation of the master to his slaves, by 
giving him a certain police authority over them, 
is most beneficent to the negro race. Crime is 
prevented more effectually, and the rigours of the 
law are made to press less heavily upon the slave, 
than in the case of free negroes, while the general 
benefit accruing to society is incalculable. 

With regard to the jurisdiction of the Courts over 
crime, it is provided by law that the highest Circuit 
Courts are alone competent to take cognizance of 
the acts of slaves accused of capital crimes ; while the 

* The exceptions to this rule are Virginia and jNIaryiancl, which liave 
hiws inflicting transportation for certain otl'ences committed by slaves. 



158 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

accused must have a fair trial by a jury ; in which 
case the procedure is identical as in the trial of free 
citizens, with the single exception that negroes — free 
and slave — are competent witnesses for or against 
slaves. The good character of an accused slave 
may also be offered in evidence, and works a rebuttal 
of the presumption of guilt; but his bad character 
cannot be taken into consideration, except in the 
same cases as with free white. Less value must also 
be attached to the confessions of a slave tending to 
incriminate himself, because of his habits of obedience. 

Although the master is entitled to claim obedience 
and subordination from his slave, he dare not kill or 
maim him to enforce them. But in all the States 
the infliction of moderate corporal punishment is 
placed in the power and discretion of the master. 

Insubordination, insurrection, and rebellion, are 
crimes which are punished by the State. 

As a consequence of the inferior position of the 
slave as a person, there are, necessarily, many dis- 
abilities attaching to his condition. One of the prin- 
cipal of these is the incapacity to be a witness. This 
is not, however, absolute, as the slave is capable of 
giving evidence, both for and against other slaves 
and free negroes. Still, under no circumstances can 
a slave be a witness for or against a white person 
in any Southern States ; and this right on princij)le. 
Tt is not difficult to understand that the time- 



THE SLAVE AS A WITNESS. 159 

honoured maxim, requiring a witness to be a free- 
man, ' liber et legalis homo,' acquires increased force 
when it is a question of conferring the privilege of 
testifying upon a race, held in subjection, accustomed 
to obedience, and notorious for its mendacity. That 
makins: the neo:ro ' othesworth ' would be most un- 
fortunate for the race, as well as for the masters, is 
conceded by even the most uncompromising enemies 
of slavery,* on account of ' the general presumption 
against his moral character, more especially in the 
article of veracity.' f The same rule incapacitating 
slaves for testifying where free whites are concerned, 
is not limited to the Southern States, but holds in 
every State of the old American Union. J Again, 
in several of the Northern States this abridgement 
of the credibility of slaves as witnesses has been 
extended to both free-born and emancipated negroes. 
So we find that in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio, 
no person of the negro race can be a witness for or 
against whites, but only in the case where slaves or 
free negroes are parties. 

The slave cannot, by law, acquire property: all 
that he gains becomes the property of his master. 
The rule with respect to villains in England formerly, 
'quicquid acquiritur servo acquiritur domino,' § as 

* Stephen, on West Ind. Slavery, vol. i. p. 177. 

I Ibidem. 

I See Case of Winn. Adin., &c., versus Jones, 6 Leigh, 74. 

§ Co. Litt. Lib. ii. § 172. 



160 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

announced by my Lord Coke, holds with regard to 
the slaves in the Southern States. Nevertheless, a 
'peculium ex gratia domini' is allowed in all the States, 
and, exceptionally, by statute in Louisiana. And no 
master would ever think of depriving his slave of 
any property gained by labour in his leisure hours, 
or acquired by accident or gift. To do this would 
be sufficient to exclude such a master from good 
society wherever it should be kno^vn. In many 
ways the slaves do acquire considerable means for 
extra comfort, as it is the custom to permit them 
to cultivate a part of the soil for their own be- 
nefit during their leisure hours. The products of 
such labour are sold with the crops of the master, or 
paid for by him, and the proceeds given to the slaves 
for their individual use. Custom, in this way, allows 
the slave the actual enjoyment of that which he 
cannot claim by law. 

Furthermore, the slave is incapacitated to con- 
tract; and contracts when made with slaves cannot 
be enforced. The Roman slave also laboured under 
the same disability; but there was this slight dif- 
ference — that contracts made by the Roman slave 
could be enforced to the extent of his peculium, and 
after manumission he could demand the fulfilment 
of enjrao-ements entered into durino- his former 
servitude. 

A consequence of the disability of slaves to contract 



THE SLAVE CANNOT CONTRACT. 161 

is their inability to contract marriage at law. But 
still there exists a state of matrimony, which is 
solemnized by the church, and considered as binding 
between the parties. It is a kind of contubernium, 
which is mercifully recognised by the law in cases of 
offences between parents and children, so far as it 
is a question of the motive. It results from this 
contubernial relation that the laws of several States 
absolutely forbid the separation of slave-parents and 
children; — and the general tendency of legislation in 
the South is to prevent, as far as possible, the sepa- 
ration of families. 

The slave may act as the agent of his master with 
his authorization, in which case the master is respon- 
sible for his acts. In only a few cases do exceptions 
to this rule occur, where it would be impolitic to 
place the slaves in a position to inflict injury upon 
others. 

It follows, also, from the incapacity of a slave to 
contract and acquire property, that he cannot be a 
party to a suit in a Court of Law. There is one ex- 
ception only — the suit for freedom, actio de liberali 
caussa — which may be brought by a slave, who is free, 
but unlawfully deprived of his freedom. This action 
is purely personal, and cannot, therefore, be instituted 
by anyone else than the slave interested ; it is not 
subject to the 'limitation of actions;' and even 
in case that the slave entitled to freedom allows 

M 



162 THE SECOND WAK OE INDEPENDENCE. 

himself to be sold without making mention of the 
fact, this cannot bar his right to bring the action at 
any future time. 

We have attempted above to give a brief idea of 
the protection thrown around the slave b}^ the law, 
as well as of his disabilities. Ko effort has been 
made to depict the condition of the slave m the 
Southern States as better than it is; and while ad- 
mitting the duty of the Southern people to direct 
legislation so as to avoid, the most possible, any 
abuses that mio'ht arise from accidental circum- 
stances, we maintain that the condition of the slave 
is at present far from being oppressive, and that 
servitude in the South is free from the greater evils 
attaching to other systems of slavery with which we 
are acquainted. 



in. Manumission and Emancipation. 

The manumission of slaves in America is almost 
coeval with the introduction of slavery upon that 
continent. Individual cases of it have always been 
allowed, and there have never been wanting persons 
to bestow the gift of liberty on their slaves. Too 
frequently has the right to manumit been abused 
in America ; and this has resulted in the enactment 
of laws in certain States, by which restraints are 



RESTRICTIONS UPON MANUMISSION. 1G3 

placed upon it. Obviously it is contrary to the 
public policy to permit a numerous class of indolent 
and vicious persons to be cast as a burden upon the 
State. To prevent such a deplorable result, re- 
strictions have, very properly, in some States been 
imposed upon the right of manumission. Among 
these is the enactment, that liberated slaves be 
required to quit the State. It has also very wisely 
been forbidden to free the aged, young, decrepit, 
and sick, who would be unable to provide for them- 
selves, and thus become a burden and expense to 
the Commonwealth ; and the obligation to care for 
such slaves is made incumbent upon the master. 
Consequently, in some instances, a certain age is 
fixed by law, before and after which manumission 
shall not be permitted. On the other hand, the 
master has not the right, under an}^ circumstances, 
to free his slaves with intent to defraud his cre- 
ditors. With the exception of these restrictions, 
there is no impediment to manumission of the slaves 
in the Southern States. 

The forms to be observed in liberating slaves 
are not unnecessarily strict. ]\Ianumission may be 
. effected in presenti, in futuro, by parol, by writing, 
and by inference. In some States, however, it is 
not allowed to free slaves by testament directly, 
as in Alabama, Maryland, and Mississippi; but even 
here it may be accomplished indirectly when the 

M 2 



164 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

testator imposes it upon his executor testamenti in 
his will. 

It must not, however, be supposed that the slave, 
in becoming free, thereby acquires the rights of a 
citizen. With the exception of a few Northern 
States, the free negro nowhere enjoys the privilege 
of citizenship ; and, as was decided in the Dred Scott 
case * the ne2:ro cannot become a citizen of the 
United States. In the Southern States the con- 
dition of the free negroes is not very different from 
that of the dedititii among tlie citizens of Rome ; they 
are under the supervision of the police, are not 
allowed to bear arms, and, from considerations of 
public policy, are not permitted to hold property 
in slaves. The free negro must also have a prochein 
ami or patronus in the South, who contracts for him. 

The amalgamation of whites with blacks operates 
to disqualify the issue for the rights of free citizens 
in the entire South and in many Northern States. 

One of the most interesting and instructive fields 
for investigation is furnished by the examination of 
the influence of liberty upon the race of African 
negroes. Experiments have been made in the Northern 
States, where slavery was abolished years ago, in the 
West Indies and in Africa. The results in the Northern 
States, as stated l)y Northern men, and confirmed 
by the census returns, are furnished by Cobb in his 

* Scott versus Sanford, 19. Howard, S. C. 1. 



RESULTS OF NORTHERN EMANCIPATION. 165 

excellent work, to which reference has already been 
made. We extract the followmg:* — 

' The number of negroes emancipated in the United 
States were comparatively small, but the effects do 
not vary materially, as to their condition, from those 
already noticed. The fact of their limited number, 
as well as the additional facts, that previous to their 
emancipation they were employed but little in agri- 
cultural pursuits, and that the nature of the agri- 
culture of the Northern States of the Union was illy 
suited to this species of labour, protected the pros- 
perity of those States from the depressing influences 
experienced elsewhere from the abolition of slavery. 
That their physical condition does not compare 
favourably with that of the slaves of the South, is 
evident from the decennial census of the United 
States, showing a much larger increase in the latter 
than in the former. No surer test can be applied. 

' In order to obtain accurate information, 1 sent a 
circular to the Governors and leading politicians of 
the non-slaveholding States. I received answers as 
follows : — 

' 3Iaine, Hon. I. J. D. Fuller. 

* Vermont^ Hon. J. Meacham. 

' Connecticut^ Gov. Pond, and Hon. 0. S. Seymour. 

' Rhode Island^ Hon. B. B. Thurston. 

' New Jersey^ Gov. Foot. 

* Cobb. ch. XV. p. cci. et seq. 



166 THE SECOND WAR OF INDErENDENCE. 

'•New York, Hon. S. G. Haven. 

''Pennsylvania, Hon. E. D. Ingraliam. 

' Indiana, Gov. Wright. 

^Illinois, Gov. Matteson, Hon. W. A. Richardson. 

' Iowa, Judge ]\Iason, Hon. Mr. Hern. 

^Michigan, Gov. Parsons.' 

A. With Reference to the Physical Condition. 

Maine. — ' The condition of the negro population 
varies ; but is very far below the whites.' 

Vermont. — ' Their condition and character have 
great varieties. They are not in as good a condition 
as the whites.' 

Connecticut. — Gov. Pond says: ' The condition of 
the negro population, as a class, is not thrifty, and 
does not compare favourably with the whites. There 
are many, comparatively speaking, who are indus- 
trious.' 

Rhode Island. — ' They are, generally, industrious 
and frugal.' 

New Jersey. — ^ Their condition is debased; with 
few exceptions very poor; generally indolent.' 

New York. — ' The condition of the neG;ro is diver- 
sified, — some prosperous, some industrious. They 
have no social relations with the whites. Generally 
on about the same level that whites would occupy 
with like antecedent.' 



EESULTS OF NORTHERN EMANCIPATION. 167 

Pennsylvania. — ' I deem the condition of the 
negro population in this State to be that of a de- 
graded class, much deteriorated by freedom. They 
are not industrious.' 

Indiana. — ' They are not prosperous. The ma- 
jority of them are not doing well. We have sent 
oiF thirty or forty this year to Liberia, and hope to 
send off one hundred or more, next year, and finally to 
get rid of all we have in the State, and do not intend 
to have another negro or mulatto come into the State.' 

Illinois. — ' As a class, they are thriftless and idle. 
Their condition far inferior to that of the whites.' 
(Gov.) 'About the towns and cities, idle and disso- 
lute, with exceptions. In the rural districts, many 
are industrious and prosperous.' (H. Richardson.) 

Iowa. — ' Very few negroes in Iowa. Far above the 
condition of those met with in our Eastern cities.' 

Michigan. — 'Tolerably prosperous. Far behind 
the white population.' 

B. With Reference to the Intellectual Condition. 

Maine. — ' Admitted into the public schools with 
the whites. Very far below them in education.' 

Vermont. — ' Generally able to read and write ; 
a few are liberally educated; not like the whites.' 

Connecticut. — ' Fall much below the whites in 
education.' 



168 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Rhode Island. — ' Some are educated in the district 
schools. Compare well with the whites of their 
condition.' 

New Jersey. — ' Generally ignorant. Far below 
the whites in intelligence.' 

New York. — 'Generally very poorly, or but 
little educated.' 

Pennsylvania. — ' Not educated. It is remarkable 
that almost all the decent and respectable negroes we 
have, have been household slaves in some Southern 
State.' 

Indiana. — ' Not educated.' 

Illinois. — ' Ignorant.' ( Gov. ) 

Michigan. — ' Not generally educated. Far below 
the whites.' 

C. With Reference to the Moral Condition. 

Maine. — ' Far below the wliites.' 
Vermont. — ' Not as good as the whites.' 
Connecticut. — ' Does not compare favourably with 
the whites.' (Gov.) 'They are, with us, an infe- 
rior caste; and in morality fall much below the 
whites.' (Seymour.) 

New Jersey ' Immoral ; vicious animal propensi- 
ties ; drunkenness, theft, and promiscuous sexual in- 
tercourse quite common. One- fourth of the criminals 
in the State prison are coloured persons; while they 
constitute only one twenty-fifth of the population.' 



EMAXCIPATION IN THE XOETH. 169 

New York. — ' Diversified ; some moral.' 
Pennsylvania. — ' Immoral. I am satisfied, from 
forty years' attention to the subject, that the removal 
of the wholesome restraint of slavery, and the conse- 
quent absence of the stimulus of the coercion to 
labour of that condition, have materially afi'ected 
their condition for the worse. They exhibit all the 
characteristics of an inferior race, to whose personal 
comfort, happiness, and morality, the supervision, 
restraint, and coercion of a superior race seem abso- 
lutely necessary.' 

Iiidiana. — ' In many instances very immoral.' 
Illinois. — ' Thriftless, idle, ignorant, and vicious.' 
(Gov.) 'In towns and cities dissolute, with excep- 
tions.' (Richardson.)' 

loiva. — ' Of a fair character.' 
Michigan. — ' Tolerably moral. Far below the 
whites.' 

' Notwithstanding the very laboured efforts made 
for their intellectual improvement, taken as a body, 
they have made no advancement. Averse to physical 
labour, they are equally averse to intellectual efifort. 
The young negro acquires readily the first rudiments 
of education, where memory and imitation are chiefly 
brought into action, but for any higher effort of 
reason and judgement he is, as a general rule, utterly 
incapable. 

' His moral condition compares unfavorably with 



170 THE SECOND -WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

that of the slave of the South. He seeks the cities 
and towns, and indulges freely in those vices to 
which his nature inclines him. His friends inveigh 
against " the prejudice of colour," but he rises no 
higher in Mexico, Central America, New Grenada, 
or Brazil, where no such j^rejudice exists. The 
cause lies deeper : in the nature and constitution of 
the negro race. 

' The emancipated negroes do not enjoy full and 
equal civil and political rights in any State in the 
Union, except the State of Vermont. In several of 
the States they are not permitted to vote,* in some 
under peculiar restrictions. f In almost every State 
where the matter has been made a subject of legis- 
lation, inter-marriages with the whites are for- 
bidden. J In none are such marriages at all com- 
mon. § In many they are forbidden to serve as jurors, 
or to be sworn as witnesses against a white person, [| 
or hold any elective office.^ 

' The criminal statistics of the slaveholding and 
non-slaveholding States show that the proportion of 



* Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsjlvania, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, 
]\Iiclii;jan. 

f New York. 

J Maine, Rhode Island, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. 

§ Connecticut. — Issue cannot vote. New Jersey. — No lejiislatior, and 
no cases of such marriai,'e. New York. — Issue considered as blacks. 
Pennsylvania. — Issue considered as blacks. Iowa. — No such cases. 

II Connecticut, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa. 

^ Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. 



EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF EMANCIPATION. 171 

crime committed by negroes in the former does not 
reach the ratio of this population as compared with 
the whites,* while in the latter the ratio is much 
greater. The same is true of the statistics of mor- 
tality and disease. The apparent disproportion in 
the former case is greater than the truth, as many 
petty crimes by slaves do not reach the courts; 
and in the latter, it may be truly said that the 
Southern climate is more favourable to the health 
and longevity of the negro. But making due allow- 
ances in both cases for these causes, it is still true, 
that the negroes are less addicted to crime, and more 
healthy and long-lived, in a state of slavery than of 
freedom.' f 

In spite of the skill of the British philanthropists, 
all efforts to save the free negroes in the West Indies 
have proved vain; Jamaica and the other English 
islands are retrograding at a pace that astonishes 
even the enemies of slavery. Hayti affords a picture 
of barbarism already attained ; while little more can 
be said in favour of Mexico. Liberia and Sierra 

* Judge Starnes, of Georgia, published several articles, giving statistics 
on this point, worthy of a more lasting existence than derived from the 
columns of a newspajier. 

t In giving my conclusions as to the free negroes of the North, I have 
relied on numberless authorities, combined with personal observation. I 
subjoin only a few : Paidding, on Slavery ; ' Abolition, a Sedition,' by 
a Northern ]\Ian ; Bishop Hopkins's ' American Citizen,' p. 135 ; ' Sea- 
board Slave States,' p. 125 ; 'Reports of American Colonization Society ;' 
' Report of Naval Committee of House of Representatives on Establishing 
a Line of Mail Steamers to Liberia' (1850); ' Negromania,' by John 
Campbell : being a Collection of Papers by distinguished men. 



172 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Leone corroborate the conclusions at which we have 
arrived in regard to the African negroes in the New 
World. And the history of the race in Africa con- 
firms the experience of modern times. This has been 
expressed most briefly by a distinguished French 
authority as follows : — ' Ni les sciences de I'Egypte, 
ni la puissance commerciale de Carthage, ni la domi- 
nation des Romains en Afrique, n'ont pu faire p^ne- 
trer chez eux la civilisation.' * 

On the other hand, it seems well established that 
the negro approaches more nearly a state of civili- 
zation, experiences the greatest happiness, and attains 
the highest degree of developement of which his nature 
is susceptible, in a state of bondage. And, though 
the race may be thus elevated to a semi-civilization 
while in a state of slavery, as soon as it is eman- 
cipated, it commences instantly to relapse in that 
hopeless barbarism from which the superior race had 
raised it. Charles Hamilton Smith, an Englishman, 
says of them, ' They have never comprehended what 
they have learned, nor retained a civilization taught 
them by contact with more refined nations, as soon 
as that contact had ceased.' f Again, Carlyle, in 
addressing himself to the emancipated slaves of the 
West Indies, gives an excellent common-sense view 



* Levavasseur, ' Esclavage de la Race Noire,' p. 77. 
f Charles II. Sniiib, ' Natural History of Human Species: its Typical 
Forms,' &c., p. 19G. 



OBSTACLES TO EMANCIPATION IN THE SOUTH. 173 

of tlie question. He says, ' You are not slaves now ! 
Nor do I wish, if it can be avoided, to see you slaves 
again ; but decidedly, you will have to be servants to 
those that are born wiser than you, that are born 
lords of you; servants to the whites if they are (as 
what mortal man can doubt they are?) born wiser 
than you. That you may depend on it, my obscure 
black friends, is and was always the law of the world 
for you and for all men to be servants, the more 

foolish of us to the more wise Heaven's 

laws are not repealable by earth, however earth may 
try.'* With history and exjoerience to enlighten us, 
no room seems left to doubt the baneful influence of 
liberty upon the negroes, wdiether it be in their own 
Africa, or in the midst of the white race. 

From the moment of the breaking out of the war, 
the question of the emancipation of the slaves in the 
Southern States has not ceased to be agitated. For 
the Southerners, and for Europeans too, this question 
has a practical side. First of all, the enquiry pre- 
sents itself, Is a general emancipation possible ? No 
reasonable person will contend that under any cir- 
cumstances emancipation could be advocated, without 
indemnification for the parties interested. The first 
insurmountable obstacle, then, to be encountered is 
the amount of jDroperty represented by the slaves. 
The number of these is about 4,000,000; and if we 

* Letter on Pimhts of Negroes. 



174 THE SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

calculate their average value at 125/. per head, a low 
estimate before the commencement of the war, we 
shall find their total worth to be 500,000,000/. Now 
Mr. Lincoln has proposed to Congress to pass a law 
for the indemnification of slave-holders in those 
States that might be disposed to abolish slavery. 
But if it could be supposed that the Southern States, 
intimidated by Lincoln's proclamation of emancipa- 
tion, should suddenly become ' loyal ' to the L^nion, 
and then determine to abolish slavery, how would it 
be possible for Congress to obtain any considerable 
part of the sum of 500,000,000/., in view of the fact 
that the Federal Government is already almost a 
declared bankrupt ? Can the idea be entertained for 
a moment that the Northern people would impose a 
tax upon them.selves, necessary to raise this amount, 
out of love for the negroes? The manner in which 
the free negro is treated in the North will furnish 
the best reply. 

Should slave labour be abolished in the South, 
the landed property that would thereby become 
valueless or unprofitable may be estimated at quite 
half of the value of the slaves. Thus we should have 
for the entire immediate interests, which would be 
ruined by emancipation, the respectable amount of 
750,000,000/. — a sum just 37i times as large as that 
paid by England for emancipating her slaves in the 
West Indies. 



OBSTACLES TO EMANCIPATION IN THE SOUTH, 175 

Another point for consideration is the probable 
effect of emancipation upon the industry, commerce, 
and prosperity of the world. The influence of slave 
labour for the advancement of the civilization and 
prosperity of the world has been incalculable. The 
universal suffering that has already resulted from 
the interruption of the supply of the products of 
slave labour, during the present war, may serve as 
a slight indication of that general misery which 
would be felt throughout the civilized world, and 
nowhere more than in England, should these pro- 
ducts be cut off permanently, by the destruction of 
the organized system of labour in the Southern 
States. 

The third and not least important point to be 
examined is the condition of the 4,000,000 of slaves, 
after emancipation. Amalgamation is out of the 
question; for not only does the ineradicable an- 
tipathy of the white race in America for the negro 
place this result beyond the possibility of ac- 
complishment, but, if practicable, it would be only 
a scheme for degrading our nature to the lowest 
point of barbarism. Eejecting this idea of a mixture 
of the races, we should find that emancipation would 
not obtain social or political equality for the negroes. 
Never will the Southern people consent to accord 
these to a race so far beneath themselves in the scale 
of human developement. Thus there A\'Ould be a 



17G THE SECOND WAE OF INDEPEXDENCE. 

class in the State, neither citizens nor slaves, which 
would not labour without compulsion, and soon 
would commence a conflict of races and of classes, 
that would terminate only in the extermination of 
one or the other. Can any one doubt which side 
would be victorious ? Are the philanthropists willing 
and prepared to accomplish the liberation of the 
negro slaves at the price of the annihilation of their 
race in America? Is, indeed, the henejit worthy of 
the sacrifice ? Can any reasonable man, then, he- 
sitate to oppose general emancipation, as being im- 
practicable and unwise? From the foregoing con- 
siderations we think ourselves justified in asserting 
that a general emancipation of the 4,000,000 of 
slaves in the Southern States is not only impossible, 
but would be the greatest misfortune for the slaves 
themselves, and an incalculable evil for mankind in 
general. 

Should, however, slave labour in the South cease 
to be the most profitable, or should the products of 
the South become unnecessary to the civilized world, 
or should the slaves be changed, either by a miracle 
or by the influence of slavery, so as to become capable 
of enjoying liberty, slavery will disappear of itself. 
All history teaches us that no people have ever been 
retained permanently in bondage, if they were fit for 
freedom. Until, therefore, these results shall be 
accomplished, slavery will remain a benefit to the 



MISCONCEPTION OF SOUTHERN POLICY. 177 

slaves, a necessity for the human race, and the inhe- 
ritance of the Southerners. If slavery is ever to be 
abolished in the South, the future will provide the 
means at the proper time. 

In conclusion, it is to be regretted that the impres- 
sion has been produced in Europe, that the Confederate 
States would be willing to enter into an engagement 
with the powers of Europe in relation to slavery, as 
the price of recognition. For what are the people of 
the Confederate States making such sacrifices, and 
submitting to such sufferings at present? What is 
the object of the war, if not to vindicate the right to 
govern themselves as they think proper? They may 
not ' desire a state of permanent conflict with the 
opinions of all the great civilized powers,' but it is 
simply absurd to suppose that they would carry on such 
a war, in order to make a surrender of their inde- 
pendence, as soon as achieved, by submitting to any 
dictation whatever from foreign powers in relation to 
their municipal regulations. 



LONDON 

rhlNTFD BT SPOTTIfiAVOODE AND CC 

NEW-STBCET ^QUARK 



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